title: Cardiovascular imaging: what have we learned from animal models?
abstract: Cardiovascular imaging has become an indispensable tool for patient diagnosis and follow up. Probably the wide clinical applications of imaging are due to the possibility of a detailed and high quality description and quantification of cardiovascular system structure and function. Also phenomena that involve complex physiological mechanisms and biochemical pathways, such as inflammation and ischemia, can be visualized in a non-destructive way. The widespread use and evolution of imaging would not have been possible without animal studies. Animal models have allowed for instance, (i) the technical development of different imaging tools, (ii) to test hypothesis generated from human studies and finally, (iii) to evaluate the translational relevance assessment of in vitro and ex-vivo results. In this review, we will critically describe the contribution of animal models to the use of biomedical imaging in cardiovascular medicine. We will discuss the characteristics of the most frequent models used in/for imaging studies. We will cover the major findings of animal studies focused in the cardiovascular use of the repeatedly used imaging techniques in clinical practice and experimental studies. We will also describe the physiological findings and/or learning processes for imaging applications coming from models of the most common cardiovascular diseases. In these diseases, imaging research using animals has allowed the study of aspects such as: ventricular size, shape, global function, and wall thickening, local myocardial function, myocardial perfusion, metabolism and energetic assessment, infarct quantification, vascular lesion characterization, myocardial fiber structure, and myocardial calcium uptake. Finally we will discuss the limitations and future of imaging research with animal models.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III Madrid, Spain ; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES) Madrid, Spain ; Madrid-MIT M+Visión Consortium Madrid, Spain ; Department of Anesthesia, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Arnoldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III Madrid, Spain ; Hospital Universitario HM Monteprincipe Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Leticia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fernández-Friera
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Villalba
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III Madrid, Spain ; Hospital Universitario HM Monteprincipe Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: López-Melgar
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III Madrid, Spain ; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES) Madrid, Spain ; Madrid-MIT M+Visión Consortium Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: España
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III Madrid, Spain ; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES) Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mateo
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III Madrid, Spain ; Charles River Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ruben A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Mota
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III Madrid, Spain ; Cardiac Imaging Department, Hospital de La Princesa Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Borreguero
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III Madrid, Spain ; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES) Madrid, Spain ; Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Cabello
keywords: animal models; atherosclerosis; biomedical imaging; heart failure; myocardial infarction; pulmonary hypertension