ESTABLISHMENT OF A 24-HOUR ELECTROCARDIOGRAM RECORDING-SYSTEM USING AHOLTER RECORDER FOR MINIATURE SWINE

A Holter recording system was established for the Gottingen miniature swine. For this purpose, we first developed a jacket to hold a Holter recording set, and subsequently determined a bipolar lead suitable for obtaining stable electrocardiogram (ECG) recording without artifacts. To make the jacket, we measured the lengths of eight sites of the bod y of 14 miniature swine. Several types of jackets were made and tested . We observed the behaviour of animals with these jackets by videotape recorder (VTR) recording. These observations permitted development of a jacket suitable for Holter recording. The jacket permits easy place ment of the recorder, and long-term ECG recording can be performed wit hout difficulty. In order to determine a suitable lead for long-term r ecording, we recorded ECGs from six adult miniature swine using three types of leads, the M-X, R-L and A-B leads. The R-L lead frequently ex hibited baseline drift, and QRS complexes often disappeared in this le ad due to low amplitude. ECG recording with the M-X and A-B leads was of sufficient quality to permit analysis. This system is expected to b e useful for further cardiovascular research in miniature swine.