Non-invasive monitoring of vital functions in rats

A new type of jacket, which can be worn by animals to check their bodily functions during biomedical research, has been developed.

A team at EARA members Etisense and Charles River Laboratories, both in Lyon, France, have studied the effects of the telemetry jacket – called the DECRO system see video – in rats in their home cages.

They found that the jacket can ensure a higher standard of animal welfare, as the monitoring of the animal’s vital functions, such as its and heart and lungs, and its activity can be done without any invasive procedures.

The team performed a one-month study, published in the Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods, where they monitored the effect of baclofen, a respiratory depressant drug.

The researchers found that the jacket was well tolerated by the animals and accurately recorded the depressant effects of baclofen, in both freely moving and housed pairs of rats.

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