Cardiovascular adaptations to parabolic flight in rats:  a radio-telemetry feasibility study.
This experiment was a feasibility study which consisted in investigating arterial blood pressure and heart rate to transient and repeated exposure to microgravity in eight unrestrained rats previously implanted with radio-telemetry transmitter. The aim was to perform such recordings throughout all the phases of a parabola during parabolic flights. This study revealed that it was possible to collect the radio-signal without any interference with electronic or magnetic environment. We observed in microgravity a significant reduction in heart rate (6%) and a significant increase in arterial blood pressure (7%). In conclusion, such a study seems to be feasible during longer exposure to microgravity (space flight) in order to study the cardiovascular adaptation in rat.
Somody
L
L
Laboratoire de Physiologie de l'Environnement, Faculte de Medecine, Lyon, France.
Fagette
S
S
Frutoso
J
J
Gharib
C
C
Blanquie
J P
JP
Gharib
T
T
Thierion
D
D
Gauquelin
G
G
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D004867:Equipment Design; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D018471:Hypergravity; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013026:Space Flight / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013686:Telemetry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014893:Weightlessness