Research
A dynamic model of circadian rhythms in rodent tail skin temperature for comparison of drug effects
Journal of Circadian Rhythms 2012, 10:1 doi:10.1186/1740-3391-10-1
Published: 5 January 2012Abstract (provisional)
Menopause-associated thermoregulatory dysfunction can lead to symptoms such as hot fushes severely im- pairing quality of life of affected women. Treatment effects are often assessed by the ovariectomized rat model providing time series of tail skin temperature measurements in which circadian rhythms are a fundamental ingre- dient. In this work, a new statistical strategy is presented for analyzing such stochastic-dynamic data with the aim of detecting successful drugs in hot flush treatment. The circadian component is represented by a nonlinear dynamical system which is defined by the van der Pol equation and provides well-interpretable model parameters. Results regarding the statistical evaluation of these parameters are presented.