title: Echocardiographic assessment of cardiac structure and function in rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Echocardiography is used in humans to characterise the structure and function of the heart, yet is relatively uncommon in studies on the rat, the most commonly used model of human cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to show that echocardiography in rats provides useful information on cardiac changes occurring in thyroid dysfunction and can also be used to characterise cardiac abnormalities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Transthoracic echocardiography and Doppler techniques with high frequency, high frame rate imaging were used to define cardiac dimensions and function in 240 Wistar rats and cardiac abnormalities in Wistar and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular dimensions and function and aortic flows was technically feasible in almost all adult Wistar rats and SHR, including those with thyroid dysfunction and cardiac abnormalities. Pulsed-wave Doppler profiles of mitral inflows to estimate diastolic function were less reliably obtained.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Echocardiography is a powerful technique for non-invasive and serial determination of cardiac structure and function in rat models of human cardiovascular disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. l.brown@mailbox.uq.edu.au
authors.forename: Lindsay
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fenning
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Loch
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Bonita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Darryl
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Burstow