Cardiovascular Response in Male Sprague-Dawley Rats Measured by Radiotelemetric Implants and Tailcuff Sphygmomanometry

摘要

Tailcuff sphygmomanometry (Tailcuff) was compared to radiotelemetric implants (Implants) for monitoring blood pressure and heart rate in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Tailcuff has the intrinsic advantage of being noninvasive. However, Tailcuff requires at least several days (or more) of animal training to eliminate pulse artifacts generated by stress or gross body movements from close containment within unfamiliar surroundings. There is no training involved with implantation. Although several days are needed to insure recovery of the animal from surgery, no long-term, overt physiological stress was detected in animals subjected to implantation in terms of weight gain, liver to whole body ratios, gross changes in liver histology, or changes in blood pressure or heart rate (as measured by Tailcuff).