title: Necrophysiological determination of blood pressure in fishes.
abstract: Bony fishes have an elastic chamber between the heart and aorta, the bulbus arteriosus, which has unique mechanical properties. On inflation, the isolated bulbus is initially very stiff but soon becomes extremely compliant yielding a steady (plateau) pressure upon further inflation, which appears to be similar in any given species. Here we show that the plateau pressure correlates with mean blood pressure determined in vivo. Consequently, inflation of the bulbus can be used to determine blood pressure in the living animal from recordings made after it is dead.
authors.affiliation: Zoology Animal Care, University of British Columbia, 6199 South Campus Road, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1W5, Canada. jones@zoology.ubc.ca
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Kevina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Perbhoo
authors.forename: Marvin H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Braun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D005399:Fishes / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012474:Salmon / Q000502:physiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D014413:Tuna / Q000502:physiology