title: A radio-telemetric system to monitor cardiovascular function in rats with spinal cord transection and embryonic neural stem cell grafts.
abstract: High thoracic or cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) can lead to cardiovascular dysfunction. To monitor cardiovascular parameters, we implanted a catheter connected to a radio transmitter into the femoral artery of rats that underwent a T4 spinal cord transection with or without grafting of embryonic brainstem-derived neural stem cells expressing green fluorescent protein. Compared to other methods such as cannula insertion or tail-cuff, telemetry is advantageous to continuously monitor blood pressure and heart rate in freely moving animals. It is also capable of long term multiple data acquisitions. In spinal cord injured rats, basal cardiovascular data under unrestrained condition and autonomic dysreflexia in response to colorectal distension were successfully recorded. In addition, cardiovascular parameters before and after SCI can be compared in the same rat if a transmitter is implanted before a spinal cord transection. One limitation of the described telemetry procedure is that implantation in the femoral artery may influence the blood supply to the ipsilateral hindlimb.
authors.affiliation: Spinal Cord Research Center, Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine; Shaoping.Hou@drexelmed.edu.
authors.forename: Shaoping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Spinal Cord Injury Center, Heidelberg University Hospital.
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blesch
authors.affiliation: Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Diego, CA; Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation*; D005260:Female; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation*; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D013686:Telemetry / Q000379:methods*