At the same time cardiovascular parameters along with body temperature
are often recorded during behavioural tests in mice and rats
as an estimate of stress-induced sympathetic activation. Mice respond
to virtually any kind of stressor (cage rattling, cage switch, handling,
open field test etc.) with a pronounced and long lasting increase in
heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature [10,11]. Noticeably,
heart rate values after exposure to stress are virtually the same as values
during exercise.