Spatial ECG of the Rat During Spatial Navigation

In the present study our aim was to spatially characterize the electrocardiogram (ECG) during the free navigation of rats in an open space via 2D maps. The development of the necessary tools (hardware, analytical) to carry out this mapping should allow us in the future to obtain a physiological correlate of different behaviours. With that purpose, we recorded the ECG from Lister Hooded rats with three superficial electrodes while the rat was being tracked during free navigation in an 80x80 open field. The heart rate and heart rate variability were represented on relation to the spatial position in the field. These physiological measures provide information about the internal state of the animal during the performance of a particular task. In this presentation, we present analytical techniques to treat the ECG signal and to obtain heart rate variability and to represent it in 2D. A similar approach can be applied to the spatial representation of other physiological signals. Author