title: Lung ultrasound is a reliable method for evaluating extravascular lung water volume in rodents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lung ultrasound (LUS) can diagnose extravacular lung water (EVLW) through the visualization of B lines in both humans and large animals. However, there are no published data on the use of ultrasound to detect EVLW in rats, the gold standard to evaluate of EVLW in rats is post-mortem gravimetric analysis. The present study was designed to determine the similarity between lung sonography and gravimetric measurements of EVLW in rats in an acute lung injury (ALI) model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into control and experimental groups. The B lines were measured byLUS at baseline. ALI was induced by the intravenous administration of oleic acid (OA) at a dose of 9 ul/100 mg, and controls were injected the same amount of isotonic saline. After 1 h, B-lines were measured by LUS in each rat following the induction of ALI. At the end of each experiment, both lungs were dissected, weighed and dried to determine wet/dry weight ratio according to the standard gravimetric methodology. Lung samples from three rats in each group were examined histologically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  B-lines were present in all rats from experimental group at 1 h point after OA injection. The statistical correlation between the two methods of assessing EVLW provided an r = 0.834 (p < 0.001). Repeatability studies of the LUS technique (Bland-Altman plots) showed good intra-observer and inter-observer reproducibility.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data suggest that, in an experimental rat model of ALI, B lines score as assessed by LUS can provide an easy, semi-quantitative, noninvasive. Real-time index of EVLW which is strongly correlated to experimental gravimetric assessments.
authors.affiliation: The Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: The Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Daozheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: The Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Minzhou
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: The Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: The Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shiyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: The Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: The Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wenhui
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanfen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: The Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China. mahuannovel@163.com.
authors.forename: Liheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D055371:Acute Lung Injury / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015633:Extravascular Lung Water / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D019301:Oleic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D019301:Oleic Acid; D012965:Sodium Chloride