New methodology for measuring blood pressure in awake baboons with use of behavioral training techniques.

Adult male baboons were behaviorally conditioned to extend an arm outside of the living cage and to accept repeated cuff inflations for manual auscultatory blood pressure measurements. Frequency distributions of systolic and diastolic blood pressure for both normotensive and renovascular hypertensive baboons generally were normally distributed. The procedure accurately tracked rapid changes in blood pressure after oral administration of antihypertensive drugs. Advantages over direct arterial cannulation for blood pressure measurement during extended, chronic experiments are discussed.