4. Discussion
This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that cardiovascular
reactions of mice in conventional treadmill test (and other test
situations) are governed primarily by stress, and that stress-associated
increase in blood pressure/heart rate masks the reaction of the cardiovascular
system to physical exercise.
To this aim we recorded blood pressure and heart rate in mice after
handling and found that cardiovascular reaction is pronounced and relatively
long-lasting, despite the fact that the mice had daily experience
of this simple manipulation for 3 weeks prior to test. Two different