Non-invasive blood pressure measurement

Systolic blood pressure was measured once in two weeks during the duration of the study. The rats were trained for at least one week until the BP was steadily recorded with minimal stress and restrain. Measurements were done in the morning in the pre-warmed, restrained rats by tail cuff plethysmography using a Power Lab/4sp AD Instrument, Australia. The first few data captures were discarded and the means of five or six subsequent measurements were recorded.