We conclude that in different test situations cardiovascular reactions
in mice are governed predominantly by stress-associated sympathetic
activation, rendering efforts to evaluate HR and MAP
reactions to workload unreliable. Our conclusion is supported with
results of the pharmacological analysis and observations made in
the non-stressful environment of a home cage. Mice seemingly do
not habituate to test procedures in terms of the cardiovascular reaction
they display, which presents an interesting observation that
might be related to the importance of “fight or flight” response for
mice survival in the natural environment. In this regard home-cage
measurements and automated data collection hardware present a
favourable opportunity of obtaining more accurate data along with
increase of work efficiency.