title: A pressure-controlled rat ventilator with electronically preset respirations.
abstract: Major experimental surgery on laboratory animals requires adequate anesthesia and ventilation to keep the animal alive throughout the procedure. A ventilator is a machine that helps the anesthesized animal breathe through an endotracheal tube by pumping a volume of gas (oxygen, air, or other gaseous mixtures), comparable with the normal tidal volume, into the animal's lungs. There are two main categories of ventilators for small laboratory rodents: volume-controlled and pressure-controlled ones. The volume-controlled ventilator injects a preset volume into the animal's lungs, no matter the airways' resistance (with the peak inspiratory pressure allowed to vary), while the pressure ventilator controls the inspiratory pressure and allows the inspiratory volume to vary. Here we show a rat pressure ventilator with a simple expiratory valve that allows gas delivery through electronic expiration control and offers easy pressure monitoring and frequency change during ventilation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Victor Babes, Timisoara, Romania.
authors.forename: Valentin L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Ordodi
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Paunescu
authors.forename: Ani A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Mic
authors.forename: Lazar
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gabor
authors.forename: Mihai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ionac
authors.forename: Octavian
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Toma
authors.forename: Dorel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sandesc
authors.forename: Felix A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Mic
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011312:Pressure; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation; D051381:Rats; D012122:Ventilators, Mechanical