This work presents a method of inducing hemorrhagic shock in the rat similar to the Wiggers type of controlled hypotension produced by hemorrhage in dogs. Studying hemorrhagic shock in the rat has the following advantages:
The reproducibility of experiments should be greater in rats of a pure inbred strain than in the dogs of mixed pedigree available in most laboratories.
The time required to perform similar hemorrhagic shock experiments is shorter in the rat than in the dog.
Experiments in a given number of rats are less expensive than in the same number of dogs.
The canine hemorrhagic shock model used in this laboratory1 is associated with mortality of 50% of the dogs when all the blood removed to produce the hypotension is returned to the circulation at the end of the period of controlled hypotension. In other words, termination of the hemorrhagic shock by giving back the blood provides