heart rate variability for the assessment of autonomic function in rats

We perform HRV analysis with the use of the Kubios software. Sympathetic activation is assessed by detrended fluctuation analysis, calculated by the software after plotting the root mean square fluctuations of the integrated data as a function of segment length. Vagal activity is assessed by RMSSD in the time-domain analysis, and by the absolute power of the high frequency component (HFp) in the frequency-domain.