Acclimation Protocol to Minimize Stress in Immobilized Rats During Non-Invasive Multimodal Sensing of the Autonomic Nervous System.

Introduction: Rodent models are often used in spinal cord injury investigations to measure physiological parameters but require rats to be restrained during data collection to prevent motion and stress-induced artifacts.

Materials And Methods: A 4-week acclimation protocol was developed to reduce sympathetic activity during experimentation to collect clean data. Physiological parameters were analyzed throughout the acclimation protocol using surface-based electrodes and an implanted sensor.