Using Dewar-Flask Calorimetry and Rectal Temperatures to Determine the Specific Absorption Rates of Small Rodents

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Abstract
The Dewar-flask calorimetric method of determining SARs, as described by Blackman and Black and Allen and Hurt requires the use of two animal cadavers for each SAR determination. One cadaver is exposed to electromagnetic(EM) radiation and its average body temperature is calorimetrically determined; the body temperature of the other cadaver, known as the sham or control, is also calorimetrically determined. If the two animals are handled the same during the irradiation process and have similar masses, then the sham's body temperature is assumed to be the same as the preexposed non-sham cadaver. This assumption is necessary for determining the total change in temperature of the cadaver during irradiation(a specimen's SAR is easily computed when its resultant temperature change is known). We, however, have modified this procedure by assuming that the non-sham's preexposure rectal temperature is the same as its whole-body average temperature. This eliminates the need for the extra sham cadaver and streamlines the general procedures. Statistically, there is no significant difference between a cadaver's rectal temperature and its calorimetrically determined whole-body average temperature.

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