title: Assessment of spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity in rats a new method using the concept of statistical dependence.
abstract: A new method was developed to evaluate the cardiac baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) from spontaneous mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) changes in conscious rats. It relies on the determination of the statistical dependence between MAP and HR values. In 13 control rats, 12 rats with a pharmacologically induced hypertension, and 7 rats with a chronic sinoaortic denervation (SAD), dependent (MAP, HR) couples related to the baroreflex activity were selected to determine the spontaneous BRS (Sp-BRS). In control and hypertensive rats, pharmacological BRS (Ph-BRS) was estimated using graded bolus intravenous doses of vasoactive drugs. Ph-BRS was significantly lower in hypertensive than in control rats. Sp-BRS was determined in 10 control and 10 hypertensive rats and was strongly correlated with Ph-BRS (r = 0.83, n = 20, P < 0.0001). Sp-BRS could be evaluated in six SAD rats and was profoundly decreased (-86%, P < 0.001) compared with control rats. In conclusion, this work validates the estimation of the cardiac BRS from spontaneous MAP and HR variations with use of (MAP, HR) couples of values that are statistically dependent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité de Recherche Associée 1483, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cerutti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ducher
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lantelme
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Gustin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paultre
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D017704:Baroreflex / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D003714:Denervation; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D010827:Physiology / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012016:Reference Values; D012146:Rest; D012850:Sinus of Valsalva / Q000294:innervation; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D001120:Arginine; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester