telemetry in primates

In preclinical testing, telemetry studies are performed to evaluate the effect of compounds on the cardiovascular system. The non-invasive emkaPACK telemetry system is a cost-effective alternative to implanted telemetry systems for use in primates, including the cynomolgus monkey (the favoured primate species). It can provide ecg recordings (1-lead, 6-lead, 7-lead) for up to 3 consecutive days.

The system contains all hardware and software you need to perform telemetry studies with up to 16 subjects(individually or group housed).

In a typical setup, the transmitted signals are picked up by wall-mounted antennas and carried to receiver modules (also called cards or boards). The receiver modules are housed in one or more receiver mainframes. There is one receiver module for each emkaPACK transmitter - each one is associated with all signals from a particular subject, and contains the required number of channels. For example, a 4-channel board would be used to acquire 7-lead ecg and an activity signal (ecg bipolar leads 1 and 2 are used to calculate lead 3, and limb leads aVF, aVL and aVR).

The mainframe(s) are connected to a single interface box, from where a single cable carries all signals to the acquisition card of the computer.

It may also be necessary to combine, split and amplify the different signals - this is done through the use of one or more versatile antenna adapters (vaas) placed between the antennas and the interface box.

The emkaPACK may be used to record several types of signals: ecg (1-, 6- or 7-lead), skin temperature, activity, and respiration. Each signal type is available as an optional module, consisting of a sensor, wiring and a control module, which is integrated inside the emkaPACK (however, an external respiratory module is available).

Data acquisition and real-time analysis can be done with iox software. Add-on modules (analyzers) are available for analyzing different types of data, such as activity, temperature, ecg (simple heart rate analysis).

The post-acquisition software ecgAUTO allows you to fully analyze your ecg data (including HRV) and also other signals, such as respiration data.

iox can also support a video signal (MPEG-4 or Motion-JPEG format). The video streams are dynamically linked to iox2 data files so, when viewing a particular section of the raw data trace, you can open the video signal at that time point.

We provide clothing that perfectly matches our hardware (custom-designed by LOMIR), which is also suitable for use in group housed animals.