A rodent treadmill for inhalation toxicological studies and respirometry
Abstract
A 10-runway treadmill was enclosed for inhalation toxicological studies of rodents under exercise exposure to environmental pollutants. The exposure system was lined with sheet stainless steel to minimize scrubbing of charged particles and reactive gases. Average metabolic gas exchange of exercising animals was derived from measurements of inlet or outlet airflow and data from an O2 analyzer in conjunction with either a CO2 or N2 analyzer. An airflow rate of 400 l X min-1 ensured a response time of 1 min to reach 95% of a step change in metabolic rate and held scrubbing losses of an O3 test atmosphere to less than 2% of treadmill inlet concentration. Gas exchange averaged for 10 rats during incremental exercise up to their highest collective performance was similar to published data for rats tested individually.
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