Key result
Tactile stimulation matches electrical stimulation with a ~97% running success rate while avoiding ECG artifacts.
Why the study?
The effectiveness of different stimulation methods to maintain continuous treadmill exercise in rats used for cardiovascular disease research was unclear.
Mean Difference: 0.009 (95% CI -0.007–0.025)
Absolute Event Rate: 0.97% vs 0.961%
p-value: p=0.502
Tactile stimulation is the optimal method for maintaining continuous exercise in rat treadmill models because it effectively motivates running without interfering with simultaneous ECG recordings.
Supports tactile stimulation for artifact-free ECG in rodent exercise models; leaves open translation to human cardiovascular research.
Objective This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of different stimulation methods on continuous treadmill exercise in rats, and to provide a rat treadmill exercise model used in cardiovascular disease research. Methods Experimental rats were divided into 3 exercise intensity groups: low-intensity(L-EX), moderate-intensity(M-EX), and high-intensity(H-EX). Different stimulation methods (tactile, auditory, light, and electrical) were used to intervene when rats stopped during treadmill training. The number of successful stimulations was counted, and electrocardiograms (ECG) of the exercise process were recorded. Results The success rate of both tactile stimulation and electrical stimulation was higher in the 3 different exercise intensity groups. The success rate of auditory stimulation was lower in the H-EX group than in the L-EX and M-EX groups. The success rate of light stimulation gradually decreased with the increase in exercise intensity. Overall, the other three stimulation methods were more successful than light stimulation. Furthermore, when electrical stimulation was used, ECG recordings showed marked baseline drift and waveform distortion caused by electrical artifacts, which made reliable interpretation of cardiac signals difficult. Conclusion In constructing a rat treadmill exercise model for cardiovascular disease research, tactile stimulation appears preferable among the tested methods when the rat stops on the treadmill, as it effectively motivates continued running without interfering with ECG recordings.
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Jiang et al. (2026) studied Healthy rat treadmill model for cardiovascular disease research (n=24). Tactile stimulation vs. Electrical stimulation was evaluated on Success rate of stimulation (proportion of successful stimulations to motivate continued running) (mean difference 0.009, 95% CI -0.007 to 0.025, p=0.502). Tactile stimulation achieved a high success rate (97%) in motivating continued treadmill running, comparable to electrical stimulation, but without causing the severe ECG interference observed with electrical artifacts.
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