In vivo assessment of respiratory system properties, like other physiological systems, consists in a compromise between the maintenance of natural conditions and the achievement of measurement precision. Indeed, experiments can be performed on small or large animals either conscious - freely moving or restrained - or anesthetized and the selection of the appropriate technique depends on the application.
NOTOCORD Systems offers a broad range of dedicated tools for data acquisition and analysis in respiratory safety studies.

From the most natural...
Assessment of tidal volume and ventilatory parameters in conscious freely moving animals is conventionally done using unrestrained whole body plethysmography in small animals. NOTOCORD-hem is compatible with most whole body plethysmograhy equipments.

PLY30a module is a dedicated whole body plethysmography respiration analyzer that automatically corrects for changes in chamber temperature and humidity, and animal temperature.The module provides real-time estimates of the main ventilatory parameters as well as Penh index.

EMS10a demultiplexer module was specifically designed to extract in real-time chamber temperature and humidity signals from up to 12 EMMS plethysmographs.

As an alternative to whole body plethysmography in small animals as well as to invasive telemetry, VivoMetrics LifeShirt® ambulatory technology for large animals allows non invasive recording of respiratory inductive plethysmograhy signals, combined with standard lead II ECG signals.
NOTOCORD-hem provides a complete solution for acquiring up to 8 LifeShirt systems using VIV10a acquisition server and computing derived ventilatory parameters using VMA10a module, a unique embedded tool based on VivoMetrics expertise.
 

...to the best precision
An accurate assessment respiratory system mechanics can only be achieved by recording transpulmonary pressure and airflow in restrained or anesthetized animals. RSP30a module computes airway resistance and lung elastance in addition to standard ventilatory parameters.