Blood pressure measurements are not trivial in rodents, but are considerably easier in rats compared to mice. The current gold-standard for blood pressure measurements requires the use of implanted telemetry. This allows for the measurement of several hemodynamic properties in conscious unrestrained animals.  This is important, because it eliminates the confounding variable of restraint and human influence.  The issue is this technology is rather expensive, and requires a rather elaborate setup.  If your institution does not currently offer telemetry services, you are looking at a roughly $50,000 (American) investment into the technology.  If this is not the expertise of your laboratory, I highly suggest you collaborate with an established lab as this technique and equipment is highly specialized.

The other option is tail-cuff blood pressure.  This requires restraint of the animal as well as a human presence, and as such is highly disregarded by the cardiovascular field as too artifactual. The technique does require some technical expertise, but is much easier on the budget if you are limited by funds.  Once again, I would recommend seeking a collaboration if you do not have experience with this technique.

I hope this information was helpful, and good luck with your studies.

~Adam

Blood pressure measurements are not trivial in rodents, but are considerably easier in rats compared to mice. The current gold-standard for blood pressure measurements requires the use of implanted telemetry. This allows for the measurement of several hemodynamic properties in conscious unrestrained animals.  This is important, because it eliminates the confounding variable of restraint and human influence.  The issue is this technology is rather expensive, and requires a rather elaborate setup.  If your institution does not currently offer telemetry services, you are looking at a roughly $50,000 (American) investment into the technology.  If this is not the expertise of your laboratory, I highly suggest you collaborate with an established lab as this technique and equipment is highly specialized.

The other option is tail-cuff blood pressure.  This requires restraint of the animal as well as a human presence, and as such is highly disregarded by the cardiovascular field as too artifactual. The technique does require some technical expertise, but is much easier on the budget if you are limited by funds.  Once again, I would recommend seeking a collaboration if you do not have experience with this technique.

I hope this information was helpful, and good luck with your studies.

~Adam

Hi Arbind,

I'd follow on from Adam's very valid comments and say that for preliminary studies, tail cuff volume pressure recording is a reasonable route to take. There is a good correlation between radiotelemetry data and tail cuff over a range of blood pressures and this can be improved further by implementing an extensive training protocol prior to taking your measurements. Allowing mice to become accustomed to restraint can significantly reduce stress artefacts.

Indeed, we routinely use tail cuff to monitor blood pressure in an ATII model of hypertension and we see normal baseline blood pressures that correlate well with our telemetry data and we are also able to observe the induction of a hypertensive phenotype following ATII infusion. So, this might work for you! Further, it is a relatively inexpensive protocol that is relatively quick to learn.

Cheers

Ross

thanks a lot  for your suggestion 

Tail cuff (in mice at least) is extremely labor intensive and requires a large n for each group.  In most circumstances I would only trust relative differences.  As Adam said, tele is the gold standard for true waking blood pressures.  Unfortunately, it is cost prohibitive for most labs.  You might consider using a solid-state cath (like Millar or Scisence) or even a cheaper fluid-filled version.  These are anesthetized pressures but extremely reliable and less costly.  Look for a lab you can collaborate with.  It will save you time and money.

Good Luck,

Russ

If you are going to use the tail cuff method for measuring blood pressures, make sure that you let the mice/rats get accustomed to being placed inside the small boxes.  The rodents often get scared/angry when placed into those boxes which will dramatically influence your results. In our lab, we "train" the rodents for a week before we record actual measurements and have the unit in a separate room to avoid excess stress on the rodents.  The tail cuff method is certainly more cost effective as stated previously, but there are also draw backs if you are studying obese rodents.  We had a problem in one of our high fat diet induced models, where the rats became to big for the boxes.  

Blood Pressure Vaccine Moves One Step Closer.

http://www.livescience.com/50969-blood-pressure-vaccine-safety.html