title: Mouse heart valve structure and function: echocardiographic and morphometric analyses from the fetus through the aged adult.
abstract: The purpose of this study is to provide standard echocardiographic and morphometric data for normal mouse valve structure and function from late fetal to aged adult stages. Cross-sectional, two-dimensional and Doppler transthoracic echocardiography was performed in C57BL6 mice anesthetized with 1% to 2% isoflurane at embryonic day 18.5 (late fetal), 10 days (neonate), 1 mo (juvenile), 2 mo (young adult), 9 mo (old adult), and 16 mo (aged adult). Normal annulus dimensions indexed to age or weight, and selected flow velocities, were established by echocardiography. After echocardiographic imaging, hearts were harvested and histological and morphometric analyses were performed. Morphometric analysis demonstrated a progressive valve thinning and elongation during the fetal and juvenile stages that plateaued during adult stages (ANOVA, P < 0.01); however, there was increased thickening of the hinge of the aortic valve with advanced age, reminiscent of human aortic valve sclerosis. There was no age-related calcification. The results of this study provide comprehensive echocardiographic and morphometric data for normal mouse valve structure and function from late fetal to aged adult stages and should prove useful as a reference standard for future studies using mouse models of progressive valve disease.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229-3039, USA. robert.hinton@cchmc.org
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Hinton
authors.forename: Christina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Alfieri
authors.forename: Sandra A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Witt
authors.forename: Betty J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Glascock
authors.forename: Philip R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Khoury
authors.forename: D Woodrow
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.forename: Katherine E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Yutzey
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001835:Body Weight; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006351:Heart Valves / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000196:embryology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D006439:Hemodynamics; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D009929:Organ Size; D012016:Reference Values; D016276:Ventricular Function