Before beginning the procedure of electropuncture on the rat, dress the rat in the custom made rat jacket. Then disinfect the local skin of acupoints using alcohol swabs. After locating the acupoint accurately, insert the sterile disposable acupuncture needle into the spot at the appropriate depth.
Gently suspend the animal from the horizontal iron rod with the help of the S-shaped hooks attached to the rat jacket. Wrap the electrode wire around the horizontal iron rod before securely attaching the small clip at the end of the electrode wire to the needle handle. Then after switching on the power, select the appropriate frequency, current, and time.
Once the parameters are adjusted, commence the electroacupuncture treatment process. Using the S-shaped hooks, suspend the rats in the same group together on the iron rod for simultaneous electroacupuncture. When the treatment is over, remove the acupuncture needle along with the clamp from the animal.
Then carefully take the needle out of the clamp and put it in the box. After removing the animal from the suspension hooks, loosen the straps, lift the head cover of the rat's jacket and position the rat above the cage. The rat will then be free to release itself from the jacket and enter the cage independently.
While performing a 15 minute electroacupuncture experiment on 12 rats only one rat exhibited intense struggle during the needle retention period resulting in needle drop. While other rats maintained proper needle fixation throughout the treatment. When compared to the other fixation methods reported in the literature, the demonstrated method exhibited the combined benefits of stability and secure fixation, efficiency in terms of time and number of personnel required, affordability, as well as relative comfort for the rats.
Additionally, in terms of the exposed acupoint range, the specially designed rat jackets in this protocol met the requirements for exposing most acupoints on the body.
