Identification, Procurement and housing of animals
Albino rats (body weight 100-200 g) were supplied by Central Animal House facility (Registration Number: 173/CPCSEA and Date of Registration: 28, JAN-2011), Jamia Hamdard and kept under standard laboratory conditions in 12 h light/dark cycle at 25 0C ± 2 0C. Pellet feed (Lipton, Calcutta, India) and unlimited water ad libitum was given to the animals. They were labelled to make it easier to identify them.
Animals training and conditioning
The animals were restrained in a restrainer for 10 min every day for one week in order to conduct the BP measurement tests. This exercise was performed to reduce blood pressure fluctuation caused by the animal’s behaviour while in the restrainer for activity measurement.