Electrocardiography (ECG) in rats is a widely applied experimental method in basic cardiovascular research. The technique of ECG recordings is simple; however, the interpretation of electrocardiographic parameters is challenging. This is because the analysis may be biased by experimental
settings, such as the type of anesthesia, the strain or age of animals. Here, we aimed to review electrocardiographic parameters in rats, their normal range, as well as the effect of experimental settings on the parameters variation. Furthermore, differences and similarities between rat and human ECG are discussed in the context of translational cardiovascular research.
Aims of the study were to compare the development of electrocardiographic responses of the ischemia-induced heterogeneities of activation and repolarization in the ventricular myocardium of normal and diabetic animals. Body surface ECGs and unipolar electrograms in 64 epicardial leads were recorded before and during 20 min after the ligation of the left anterior descending artery in diabetic (alloxan model, 4 weeks, n=8) and control (n=8) rabbits. Activation times (ATs), end of repolarization times (RTs) and repolarization durations (activation-recovery intervals, ARIs) were determined in ischemic and periischemic zones. In contrast to the controls, the diabetic rabbits demonstrated the significant prolongation of ATs and shortening of ARIs (P<0.05) during ischemia in the affected region resulting in the development and progressive increase of the ARI and RT gradients across the ischemic zone boundary. The alterations of global and local dispersions of the RTs in diabetics correlated with the Tpeak-Tend interval changes in the limb leads ECGs. In the ischemic conditions, the diabetic animals differed from the controls by the activation delay, significant repolarization duration shortening, and the increase of local repolarization dispersion; the latter could be assessed by the Tpeak-Tend interval measurements in the body surface ECGs., K. A. Sedova, M. A. Vaykshnorayte, A. O. Ovechkin, P. Kneppo, O. G. Bernikova, V. A. Vityazev, J. E. Azarov., and Obsahuje bibliografii