Functional analysis includes procedures for the development of rat models of hypertension and metabolic syndrome, experimental myocardial infarction, measurement of all relevant cardiovascular parameters such as blood pressure, heart function and others. 

Wire myography: The Wire Myograph allows the examination of small vessels (internal diameter 60 μm - 10 mm) in terms of morphology and responsiveness to hormones and other agonists. The small vessels are mounted as ring preparations by threading them onto two stainless steel or tungsten wires and securing the wires to two supports. One support is then attached to a micrometer, allowing control of vessel circumference. The other support is attached to a force transducer for the measurement of tension development. The whole preparation is kept in a chamber with physiological salt solution at 37°C, bubbled with oxygen. Vessels maintained in Wire Myographs are viable for several hours. Following mounting and equilibration, the passive length-tension relationships of the vessels are determined; a normalization procedure. During the actual experiments, vessels' circumference are kept constant and vessels are examined under isometric conditions. Compounds are added directly to the chamber and vessel tension is monitored. Furthermore, it is possible to compare vessels from patients or test groups with those of control, not only in terms of vessel reactivity to various compounds but also in terms of morphology. For more details see: DMT Wire Myograph Systems

Organ bath, or isolated tissue bath we used for administering the vessels with drugs, or stimulated electrically, in order to measure their function. For more details see: TN Organ Bath Systems

Langendorff heart or isolated perfused heart preparation allows the examination of cardiac contractility and heart rate without the complications of an intact animal. This allows to record and  analyze multiple cardiac parameters such as left ventricular developed  pressure, perfusion pressure, cardiac electrical activity and temperature all in real time. For more details see: Isolated Heart Systems

Tail-cuff plethysmography is the noninvasive rat and mouse blood pressure measurement methodology consists of utilizing a tail-cuff placed on the tail to occlude the blood flow. Upon deflation, one of several types of noninvasive blood pressure sensors, placed distal to the occlusion cuff, can be used to monitor the blood pressure. We used it for blood pressure measurement in the rats. For more details see: Noninvasive Blood Pressure

Echocardiography is a reliable and reproducible method to assess non-invasively cardiac function in clinical and experimental research. A 14-MHz matrix probe (M12L) coupled with a GE Medical Vivid 7 Dimension System (GE Medical Systems CZ Ltd., Prague, Czech Republic) is sused for our rat experiments. For more details see: Towards standardization of echocardiography for the evaluation of left ventricular function in adult rodents