Exposure to ultrafine carbon particles at levels below detectable pulmonary inflammation affects cardiovascular performance in spontaneously hypertensive rats

Table 2 Experimental design of cardiophysiological, pulmonary and systemic response

Study	Day -2	Day 0	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day4	Day5
	Adaptation	Baseline	Exposure	Recovery
Cardiophysiological Response*
Telemetry (n = 7)	Acclimatization	√	√	√	√	√	√
	No change			BP↑	BP↑ HR↑	HR↑
Pulmonary response
BALF (n = 6)				√		√
Lung tissue (n = 6)				√		√
Pulmonary histopathology (n = 2)				√		√
Systemic Response
Blood A (n = 8)				√		√
Blood B (n = 8)				√	√	√
Heart tissue (n = 6)				√		√
Cardiac histopathology (n = 2)				√		√

* Cardiophysiological response by telemetry: individuals served as their own control. Pulmonary and systemic response: number of exposed animals is given. A similar number of animals was exposed to filtered air and served as controls. Total animal number: 39. Blood A: blood collected from retro arbitral sinus and abdominal aorta, Blood B: blood collected from caudal vein. BP↑, HR↑: blood ressure or heart rate significantly elevated after UfCPs exposure, respectively. √: performed.