Electrocardiography in rats: a comparison to human.

Electrocardiography (ECG) in rats is a widely applied experimental method in basic cardiovascular research. The technique of ECG recordings is simple; however, the interpretation of electrocardiographic parameters is challenging. This is because the analysis may be biased by experimental settings, such as the type of anesthesia, the strain or age of animals. Here, we aimed to review electrocardiographic parameters in rats, their normal range, as well as the effect of experimental settings on the parameters variation. Furthermore, differences and similarities between rat and human ECG are discussed in the context of translational cardiovascular research.