Pressure and flowrate studies in large animals (Dr. Rohit Ramchandra)

Web video URL

In this webinar, Dr. Rohit Ramchandra from the University of Auckland discusses how cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide and how research studies in large animals are vital to translating findings from research labs to actuality.


Dr. Rohit Ramchandra discusses research studies in large animals that are crucial to translate findings from research labs to the bedside. The use of large animals allows chronic measurements of arterial pressure and blood flow which are not always possible in rodent models. These measurements allow a better understanding of altered organ function.

The webinar covers:

  • Instrumentation of Millar pressure catheters and Transonic flow probes
  • And consequent measurement of arterial pressure and blood flow in the conscious ovine model
  • A discussion on ovine models of heart failure and hypertension
  • Recent data from examining changes in carotid and renal blood flow in an ovine model of hypertension. 

Additional resources:

Invasive Blood Pressure – fundamentals and best practices for preclinical research»
How to Calibrate a Millar Catheter using the Pressure Gauge Kit»


About the speaker:

Dr Rohit Ramchandra, Senior Lecturer 
University of Auckland, New Zealand

Throughout Rohit's career he has been interested in the mechanisms controlling sympathetic nerve activity during normal physiology and during pathophysiology conditions. He undertook his PhD at the Department of Physiology, University of Auckland investigating the role of the sympathetic nervous system and nitric oxide in the control of blood pressure. His interest in the possibility that the differential control of sympathetic nerve activity may be regulated by forebrain areas led him to undertake his postdoctoral studies at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.

Together with his mentor, Professor Clive May, he published numerous papers investigating the reflex control of directly recorded cardiac sympathetic nerve activity in heart failure. He re-located back to Auckland in 2014 where he is running his own lab investigating autonomic control of the circulation in ovine models of hypertension and heart failure.