Fig. 1

A representative tracing of rat blood pressure measurement showing the pressure of tail cuff and pulse: the total length from the base of pulse channel up to the pressure channel is 3 cm, which is equivalent to 300 mmHg of pressure. The lowest point (base) and highest peak from the pulse channel was extrapolated to the pressure channel. The intersection in the pressure channel was marked then the length from the intersection up to the respective points was measured and calculated to give the corresponding blood pressure reading for systolic and mean arterial blood pressure, respectively. The diastolic blood pressure was calculated using this equation DBP = (3MAP – SBP)/2