Blood pressure measurement using tail-cuff and carotid catheterization.

For tail-cuff blood pressure measurements, mice were trained for 3 consecutive days at room temperature before systolic blood pressure was recorded using a tail-cuff monitor (BP-2000 BP Analysis System, Visitech System). Systolic blood pressures recorded in 2 days were averaged and used as values from one mouse. For catheterization blood pressure measurements, blood pressure was recorded every minute for one hour, and the average of all recorded blood pressure was used as blood pressure from one mouse. Blood pressure measurement using carotid catheterization was performed through the Vanderbilt MMPC. Mice were anesthetized with 80 mg/kg of ketamine (Ft Dodge Laboratories) and 8 mg/kg of inactin (BYK) by intraperitoneal injection and were placed on a temperature-controlled pad. After tracheostomy, phycoerythrin 10 tubing was inserted into the right carotid artery. The catheter was tunneled under the skin, exteriorized, secured at the back of the neck, filled with heparinized saline, and sealed. The catheterized mouse was housed individually and 24 h later, data were collected with a Blood Pressure Analyzer (Micro-Med) ¹⁵. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and heart rate were recorded every minute for 60 minutes. The average of the recorded data from each individual awake mouse was used.