perfuse, v.
(pəˈfjuːz)
[f. L. perfūs-, ppl. stem of perfundĕre, f. per- + fundĕre to pour out.]
1. trans. To overspread with any moisture; to besprinkle (with water, etc.); to bedew; to cover or suffuse with anything shed on (e.g. radiance, colour, grace, goodness).
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 182 b, In mouth and lyppes, all perfused with grace. 1625 Jackson Creed v. xii, Each as it were to perfuse itself with its own goodness. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies i. ii. 3 Some Creatures..perfusing themselves with water. 1732 J. Whaley Poems 175 The Cheek with red perfus'd, the down-cast Eye. 1862 Thoreau Excursions, Wild Apples (1863) 297 Red inside, perfused with a beautiful blush. |
2. To pour (something) through; to diffuse through or over; to cause to flow through. Also fig.
| 1666 Harvey Morb. Angl. xii. 144 These clouds, as they are raised out of the Sea..being perfused through the Air. 1857 Truths Cath. Relig. (ed. 4) 178 They have the devil infused, perfused, and transfused into them. 1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 17 Sept. 681 By perfusing Locke's fluid through the coronary system of the heart of cat or rabbit. |
3. Med. To supply (an organ, tissue, or body) with a fluid artificially by circulating it through blood vessels or other natural channels; to pass a fluid through (a hollow organ).
| 1903 Jrnl. Physiol. XXIX. 266 The method of examining the physiological action of an organ or tissue by perfusing it by blood after its removal from the body has already proved of great value. 1920 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. LII. 101 Using a mixture of red cells and whole serum or diluted serum or modified Locke's solution, the investigator should be able to perfuse satisfactorily the various organs or combinations of organs and tissues. 1962 Lancet 6 Jan. 13/2 Radiography will then reveal whether anastomoses exist, by showing the radio-opaque material in arteries which were not perfused. 1965 Gut VI. 387/2 After perfusing the intestine for 30 minutes a steady state is reached, and intraluminal contents are then aspirated through a hole. 1966 Maclean's Mag. 2 Apr. 18/3 The current belief is that before freezing the body should be perfused—that is, the blood should be replaced with a chemical that would prevent, or at least minimize, cellular damage during freezing. 1971 Jrnl. Physiol. CCXVI. 735 The lumen was perfused with a raffinose-electrolyte solution having a low sodium concentration. |
Hence perˈfused ppl. a., (of an organ, etc.) kept supplied with a flow of fluid; (of a fluid) supplied as a substitute for blood; perˈfusing vbl. n.
| 1903 Jrnl. Physiol. XXIX. 271 Difficulties in the way of obtaining a sufficiently rapid rate of flow through the perfused organ. 1906 Ibid. XXXV. 54 The amount of oxygen in the perfused liquid and the rate of perfusion were as far as possible controlled. 1916 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. XL. 516 With the perfusing fluid running..a cannula is passed into the popliteal below the nutrient artery. 1962 Lancet 6 Jan. 13/2 Another unreported source of error is the perfusing of hearts still affected by rigor mortis. |