Signal processing of systolic arterial blood pressure and heart rate variability in conscious rats

Abstract

A signal processing algorithm to derive spectra of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate variability (HRV) in conscious rats is reported. In this algorithm, the carotid arterial blood pressure is acquired and the rhythmic fluctuations in SBP and HRV are analyzed with a spectral technique based on the fast Fourier transform. Three major components were examined in the spectra of both SBP and HRV, a high frequency component (HF) synchronized by respiration, a low-frequency component (LF) at a frequency of /spl sim/0.5 Hz and a very low-frequency component (VLF) at frequencies below 0.5 Hz.