title: Capacitive Sensing for Non-Invasive Breathing and Heart Monitoring in Non-Restrained, Non-Sedated Laboratory Mice.
abstract: Animal testing plays a vital role in biomedical research. Stress reduction is important for improving research results and increasing the welfare and the quality of life of laboratory animals. To estimate stress we believe it is of great importance to develop non-invasive techniques for monitoring physiological signals during the transport of laboratory animals, thereby allowing the gathering of information on the transport conditions, and, eventually, the improvement of these conditions. Here, we study the suitability of commercially available electric potential integrated circuit (EPIC) sensors, using both contact and contactless techniques, for monitoring the heart rate and breathing rate of non-restrained, non-sedated laboratory mice. The design has been tested under different scenarios with the aim of checking the plausibility of performing contactless capture of mouse heart activity (ideally with an electrocardiogram). First experimental results are shown.
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer-Institut fuer BiomedizinischeTechnik (IBMT), Sulzbach/Saar 66280, Germany. cgonzalezs90@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: González-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: ITAP-Universidad de Valladolid, Paseo del Cauce 59, Valladolid 47011, Spain. jcfraile@eii.uva.es.
authors.forename: Juan-Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Fraile
authors.affiliation: ITAP-Universidad de Valladolid, Paseo del Cauce 59, Valladolid 47011, Spain. turiel@eii.uva.es.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pérez-Turiel
authors.affiliation: Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg Esch-sur-Alzette L-4362, Luxembourg and Internal Medicine II, Saarland University Medical Center, Homburg 66421, Germany. ellen.damm@uni.lu.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Damm
authors.affiliation: Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg Esch-sur-Alzette L-4362, Luxembourg and Internal Medicine II, Saarland University Medical Center, Homburg 66421, Germany. jochen.schneider@uni.lu.
authors.forename: Jochen G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer-Institut fuer BiomedizinischeTechnik (IBMT), Sulzbach/Saar 66280, Germany. heiko.zimmermann@ibmt.fraunhofer.de.|Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology/Nanotechnology, Saarland University, Saarbruecken 66123, Germany. heiko.zimmermann@ibmt.fraunhofer.de.
authors.forename: Heiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer-Institut fuer BiomedizinischeTechnik (IBMT), Sulzbach/Saar 66280, Germany. daniel.schmitt@ibmt.fraunhofer.de.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer-Institut fuer BiomedizinischeTechnik (IBMT), Sulzbach/Saar 66280, Germany. frank.ihmig@ibmt.fraunhofer.de.
authors.forename: Frank R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Ihmig
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia; D000818:Animals; D000830:Animals, Laboratory; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D025802:Electric Capacitance; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D012119:Respiration; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: capacitive sensors; non-invasive sensor; physiological signals in mice; stress in mice