Meijer, M. K., Spruijt, B. M., van Zutphen, L. F. M. et al. 2006. Effect of restraint and injection methods on heart rate and body temperature in mice. Laboratory Animals 40(4), 82-391.

It was found that heart rate (HR), and to a lesser extent also body temperature (BT), parallels plasma corticosterone (pCORT) values after subjecting the animals to different methods of restraint. Secondly, the acute stress response caused by different injection methods was evaluated. Again, HR was found to be a more sensitive parameter than BT. We found that, in case of sham injections, the acute stress response after an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection was more pronounced than after intramuscular (i.m.) or subcutaneous (s.c.) injections, but this difference was found to be inconsistent when saline was used as injection fluid... Overall, the results have indicated that HR might be considered as a useful parameter for measuring acute stress responses to routine procedures, but the value of BT seems to be of limited value in this respect.