An Indirect Method for Measuring Blood Pressure in the Fowl

SCATTERED reports have appeared in the literature on the blood pressure of the chickens (Riddle and Matthews, 1907; Stubel, 1910; Kaupp, 1924; Woodbury and Abrew, 1944; Rodbard and Tolpin, 1948; Lenel et al., 1948). No complete picture is available, however, on the relationship of blood pressure in the fowl to age, sex, or physiological state. The blood pressure methods used to date on the fowl have all been of direct variety, generally involving anesthesia, surgery, cannulization and cumbersome apparatus. Such techniques do not appear to offer the best means for an investigation involving considerable numbers and serial determinations. Many of the objectionable features of blood pressure measurements are eliminated in indirect sphygmomanometry, but a search of the literature failed to disclose any report on the adaptation of an indirect technique to the fowl. The work presented here was accordingly undertaken in an effort to develop such a method as a . . .