title: Echocardiographic assessment of LV mass in rabbits: models of pressure and volume overload hypertrophy.
abstract: We describe a method for the noninvasive measurement of left ventricular mass in small animals using two-dimensionally guided M-mode echocardiography. We compared echocardiographic cross-sectional area (CSA) and cubed-based volumetric indexes of left ventricular (LV) mass with postmortem wet weight in renovascular hypertension-induced pressure overload (group I) and acute aortic insufficiency-induced volume overload (group II) models of ventricular hypertrophy. CSA and cubed echocardiographic indexes correlated well with wet weight from a combination of group I and II animals and their controls (r = 0.89, P < 0.001 for both groups). Separate analyses of groups I and II also demonstrated significant relationships between mass indexes and wet weight using CSA and cubed formulas, respectively, in both pressure (r = 0.57, P = 0.01 and r = 0.71, P < 0.001) and volume (r = 0.90 and r = 0.89, P < 0.001) overload models. Echocardiographically predicted LV mass derived from cubed and CSA regression formulas was 89 and 56% sensitive for pressure overload hypertrophy in group I and 100% sensitive (both cubed and CSA methods) for volume overload hypertrophy in group II. Cubed and CSA mass regression formulas were 60 and 80% specific for hypertrophy in group I and 100 and 90% specific in group II. Normalization of predicted LV mass for body weight added little to the overall technique accuracy with measured sensitivities of 83 and 75% and specificities of 92 and 77%, respectively, for cubed and CSA methods. Two-dimensionally guided M-mode echocardiography provides a reasonably accurate method of LV mass determination in rabbits with pressure- or volume-overloaded ventricles.
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Muscle Research Laboratory, Boston University School of Medicine, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Plehn
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: W N
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Grice
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huntington-Coats
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Apstein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006940:Hyperemia / Q000150:complications*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D011817:Rabbits; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity