Fig. 3.

Acclimation setup and physiological outcomes (A) Animal is briefly anesthetized to allow for setup into an imaging restraint device. (B) Animal is placed into head restraint. (C) Animal's teeth are adjusted around the restraint bite bar. (D) Head restraint is slid into and fastened to a mock coil or real coil. (E) Nose bar is lowered. (F) Hindpaws and forepaws are respectively taped together. (G) Animal is placed into a body tube, the head restraint is fastened in place. (H) Animal is allowed to recover from anesthesia and imaging is performed. (I) The respiratory rate (mean and S.E.M.) as measured on days 1, 3, 5, and 8 of acclimation to the imaging environment. Normal range for respiratory rate ranges from 66 to 114 beats/min. There was a significant decrease in respiratory rate from the third day of acclimation (p < 0.05) as compared to day 1. (J) The heart rate (mean and S.E.M.) as measured on days 1, 3, 5, and 8 of acclimation to the imaging environment. The normal range for heart rate ranges from 330 to 480 beats/min. There was a significant decrease in heart rate by day 5 of acclimation (p < 0.01) as compared to day 1. (K) Plasma corticosterone levels (μg/dl) measured on days 1, 3, 5, and 8 of acclimation (presented are the mean and S.E.M). There was a significant decrease in plasma levels of corticosterone for days 5 and 8 of acclimation as compared to day 1 (p < 0.05). Adapted from (King et al., 2005).