Citation:

Tepper, J., M. Wiester, M. King, D. Costa, AND M. Weber. COMPARISON OF CARDIOPULMONARY FUNCTION IN AWAKE FISCHER-344 AND SPRAGUE-DAWLEY RATS EXPOSED TO CARBON DIOXIDE: A COMPUTERIZED TECHNIQUE. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-88/550 (NTIS PB91116038), 1988.

Description:

A system has been developed to measure simultaneously the effects of inhaled toxicants on cardiopulmonary function in four awake rats before, during and after exposure. ne day prior to testing, Fischer-344 and Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with an intrapleural or carotid catheter. n the day of testing, the rats were placed into a restraint system to reduce movement artifacts and to keep rats from disturbing the implanted catheters without imposing limitations on functional measurements. he rats were then sealed into constant-volume plethysmographs mounted on the door of a 0.32-m3 Rochester exposure chamber. hirty minutes after the rats were placed into the plethysmographs, control measurements were obtained. nder the control of a digital computer, the rats were exposed for l5-min periods to 4% CO2. uring testing, tidal volume, intrapleural pressure, blood pressure, and the electrocardiogram were recorded on the polygraph, and were digitized and stored in the computer. our-second breathing epochs were recorded and analyzed, and the results were displayed on line. verall, the results indicate that significant differences in cardiopulmonary function can be detected between Fischer-344 and Sprague-Dawley rats of comparable size in response to inhaled toxicants. he results also suggest that CO2 challenge may be a useful technique for detecting and localizing the consequences of acute exposure to airborne toxicants.

URLs/Downloads:

Record Details:

Document IDs: