Two different techniques of measurement of blood pressure, i.e. direct measurement of carotideal arterial pressure in conscious unrestrained animals or sfigmomanometric caudal determination, have been employed for assessing the antihypertensive effects of two reference drugs, clonidine and guanfacine.
The examination of carotideal blood pressure proved to be particularly useful for studying the acute effects of drug treatment and rvealed an early hypertensive action of guanfacine. The indirect sfigmomanometric determination of blood pressure appeared best suited for examining the chronic effects of drug treatment.
