From the Cardiac Unit, Department of Medicine (M.S.-C., P.R.H., G.P.F.,
N.L.-C., M.H.P.), the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care (W.S.,
W.M.Z.), and the Department of Radiology (L.G.), Massachusetts General
Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
Correspondence to Marielle Scherrer-Crosbie, MD, Cardiac Ultrasound Laboratory, VBK 508, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114-2698. E-mail crosbie{at}olorin.mgh.harvard.edu
Background—Noninvasive cardiac
evaluation is of great importance in transgenic mice.
Transthoracic echocardiography can
visualize the left ventricle well but has not been as successful for
the right ventricle (RV). We developed a method of
transesophageal echocardiography
(TEE) to evaluate murine RV size and function.
Methods and Results—Normoxic and chronically hypoxic mice
(FIO2=0.11, 3 weeks) and agarose RV casts were
scanned with a rotating 3.5F/30-MHz intravascular ultrasound probe. In
vivo, the probe was inserted in the mouse esophagus and withdrawn to
obtain contiguous horizontal planes at 1-mm intervals. In vitro, the
probe was withdrawn along the left ventricular posterior
wall of excised hearts. The borders of the RV were traced on each
plane, allowing calculation of diastolic and
systolic volumes, RV mass, RV ejection fraction, stroke volume,
and cardiac output. RV wall thickness was measured. Echo volumes
obtained in vitro were compared with cast volumes. Echo-derived cardiac
output was compared with measurements of an ascending aortic
Doppler flow probe. Echo-derived RV free wall mass was compared
with true RV free wall weight. There was excellent agreement between
cast and TEE volumes (y=0.82x+6.03,
r=0.88, P<0.01) and flow-probe and echo
cardiac output (y=1.00x+0.45,
r=0.99, P<0.0001). Although echo-derived
RV mass and wall thickness were well correlated with true RV weight,
echo-derived RV mass underestimated true weight
(y=0.53x+2.29, r=0.81,
P<0.0001). RV mass and wall thickness were greater in
hypoxic mice than in normoxic mice (0.78±0.19 versus 0.51±0.14 mg/g,
P<0.03, 0.50±0.03 versus 0.38±0.03 mm,
P<0.04).
Conclusions—TEE with an intravascular ultrasound catheter is a
simple, accurate, and reproducible method to study RV size and function
in mice.
© 1998 American Heart Association, Inc.
Basic Science Reports
Determination of Right Ventricular Structure and Function in Normoxic and Hypoxic Mice
A Transesophageal Echocardiographic Study
Key Words: echocardiography • ventricles • hypoxia
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