title: Anesthesia and microvascular dynamics in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
abstract: Studies on pressure dynamics in rats under local anesthesia were carried out to provide background information for subsequent intravital analysis of microvascular behavior in a skeletal muscle. An alpha-chloralose-urethan mixture (1:13.3%) was selected as the general anesthesia having the least effect on systemic pressures in spontaneous hypertensive (SHR) as well as normotensive (WKY), Sprague-Dawley and Wistar-Kyoto rats. Anesthetic agents, in general, lower systemic blood pressure in SHR by 30--50 mmHg and thereby distort microcirculatory flow and blood vessel-diameter relationships. Insertion of a plastic catheter into the trachea of the anesthetized rat, to maintain an open airway, had a complex effect on heart rate and systemic blood pressure and left the pressure in an unstable state. Severity of the change depended on the age of the rat and the anesthetic agent; hypertensive animals were especially vulnerable.
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal; D008833:Microcirculation; D009132:Muscles / Q000098:blood supply*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains / Q000502:physiology; D011922:Rats, Mutant Strains / Q000502:physiology*