RESUMO
To study the effect of microgravity on peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO ) in rats, tail-suspended rats were applied to simulate microgravity environment. SpO and arterial oxygen saturation (SaO ) were measured by pulse oximeter and arterial blood gas analyzer (ABGA) respectively on the 14th day, 21st day and 28th day in tail-suspended group and control group. Paired -test shows that SpO was significantly lower than SaO in tail-suspended group on the 14th day ( < 0.05), the 21st day ( < 0.05) and the 28th day ( < 0.01). The ANOVA results shows that modeling time had significant effect on SpO value but no effect on SaO value in tail-suspended group. These results indicate that pulse oximeter may be not suitable for oxygen saturation test in microgravity environment.