*2.2. Blood Pressure Measurements*

We measured the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of the rats using the tail-cuff method. Rats were preheated on a hotplate at 35 ◦C for 10 min and then placed in plastic restrainers. We attached a cuff with a pneumatic pulse sensor around the tail. The CODA system (Kent Scientific Corporation, Torrington, CT, USA) was used to record blood pressure values with heating. Blood pressure measurements were averaged from at least ten consecutive readings obtained from each rat [20].
