Clinical and experimental pharmacology & physiology
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Clin. Exp. Pharmacol. Physiol. · Aug 2002
Cardiovascular responses during stimulation of hindlimb skeletal muscle nerves in anaesthetized rats.
1. Cardiovascular responses during static skeletal muscle contraction in anaesthetized rats appear to be contradictory. The present study attempted to explain such variations by stimulating different peripheral nerves supplying the hindlimb skeletal muscles using anaesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats. 2. ⋯ The results demonstrate that static muscle contraction following stimulation of the tibial or sciatic nerve with transected peroneal branch, elicits consistent increases in blood pressure and heart rate. Furthermore, stimulation of the peroneal nerve elicits a depressor response, while stimulation of the intact sciatic nerve evokes variable cardiovascular responses. Overall, anaesthetized rats can be excellent models to study the variable cardiovascular responses during activation of group III and/or group IV muscle afferents.