[Changes of blood circulation, muscle and skeletal systems in 30 d tail-suspended [correction of tail-suspented] rats].
OBJECTIVE
To confirm the tail-suspended rat model for the study of countermeasures against weightlessness.


METHODS
The changes of blood circulation, muscle and skeletal systems in control group rats (n = 15) and 30 d tail-suspended rats (n = 15) were compared.


RESULTS
Compared with the control group, the hemorrheology and erythrocyte deformability decreased significantly, muscle-fiber atrophy, muscle contraction function decreased, the type I muscle fibers transformed to the type II muscle fibers, bone-mineral content of L3 and load capacity of femur declined, bone metabolism changed in the suspended rats.


CONCLUSIONS
The tail-suspended rat is a suitable animal model for the study of countermeasures against weightlessness.
Shen
X Y
XY
Institute of Space Medico-Engineering, Beijing, China.
Cui
W
W
Ma
Y L
YL
Dong
Q
Q
Wang
T
T
Yang
G H
GH
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001775:Blood Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D001809:Blood Viscosity; D015519:Bone Density; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood; D004907:Erythrocyte Deformability; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D019417:Hindlimb Suspension / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000502:physiology; D018656:Muscle Fibers, Fast-Twitch / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D018657:Muscle Fibers, Slow-Twitch / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D009142:Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; D051381:Rats; D018474:Weightlessness Simulation / Q000379:methods*
D002118:Calcium