quantification-biventricular-function-morphology-cardiac-magnetic

Quantification of Biventricular Function and Morphology by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Mice with Pulmonary Artery Banding

Right ventricular (RV) function and failure are major determinants of outcome in acquired and congenital heart diseases, including pulmonary hypertension. ...

University of Groningen

Right ventricular failure (RVF) due to pressure load is a major cause of death in congenital heart diseases and pulmonary hypertension. The mechanisms of RVF are unknown. We used an experimental approach based upon clinical signs of RVF to delineate functional and biological processes associated with RVF.

Clinical symptoms of right ventricular failure in experimental chronic pressure load are associated with progressive diastolic dysfunction.

For indexing cardiac measures in small animal models, tibia length (TL) is a recommended surrogate for body weight (BW) that aims to avoid biases because of disease-induced BW changes. However, we question if indexing by TL is mathematically correct. This study aimed to investigate the relation between TL and BW, heart weight, ventricular weights, and left ventricular diameter to optimize the current common practice of indexing cardiac parameters in small animal models. In 29 healthy Wistar rats (age 5-34 wk) and 116 healthy Black 6 mice (age 3-17 wk), BW appeared to scale nonlinearly to TL but linearly to TL. Formulas for indexing cardiac weights were derived. To illustrate the effects of indexing, cardiac weights between the 50% with highest BW and the 50% with lowest BW were compared. The nonindexed cardiac weights differed significantly between groups, as could be expected ( < 0.001). However, after indexing by TL, indexed cardiac weights remained significantly different between groups ( < 0.001). With the derived formulas for indexing, indexed cardiac weights were similar between groups. In healthy rats and mice, BW and heart weights scale linearly to TL. This indicates that not TL but TL is the optimal surrogate for BW. New formulas for indexing heart weight and isolated ventricular weights are provided, and we propose a concept in which cardiac parameters should not all be indexed to the same measure but one-dimensional measures to BW or TL, two-dimensional measures to BW or TL, and three-dimensional measures to BW or TL.  In healthy rats and mice, body weight (BW) scales linearly to tibia length (TL) to the power of three (TL). This indicates that for indexing cardiac parameters, not TL but TL is the optimal surrogate for BW. New formulas for indexing heart weight and isolated ventricular weights are provided, and we propose a concept of dimensionally consistent indexing. This concept is proposed to be widely applied in small animal experiments.

A novel method optimizing the normalization of cardiac parameters in small animal models: the importance of dimensional indexing.

Right ventricular (RV) failure due to pressure load is an important determinant of clinical outcome in pulmonary hypertension, congenital heart disease and left ventricular failure. The last decades it has become clear that metabolic dysregulation is associated with the development of RV-failure. However, underlying mechanisms remain to be unraveled. Recently, disruption of intracardiac lipid content has been suggested as potential inducer of RV failure. In the present study, we used a rat model of RV-dysfunction and aimed to obtain insight in temporal changes in RV-function, -remodelling and -metabolism and relate this to RV lipid content.

Right ventricular pressure overload alters cardiac lipid composition.

Background Right ventricular (RV) failure because of chronic pressure load is an important determinant of outcome in pulmonary hypertension. Progression towards RV failure is characterized by diastolic dysfunction, fibrosis and metabolic dysregulation. Metabolic modulation has been suggested as therapeutic option, yet, metabolic dysregulation may have various faces in different experimental models and disease severity. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we aimed to identify metabolic changes in the pressure loaded RV and formulate recommendations required to optimize translation between animal models and human disease. Methods and Results Medline and EMBASE were searched to identify original studies describing cardiac metabolic variables in the pressure loaded RV. We identified mostly rat-models, inducing pressure load by hypoxia, Sugen-hypoxia, monocrotaline (MCT), pulmonary artery banding (PAB) or strain (fawn hooded rats, FHR), and human studies. Meta-analysis revealed increased Hedges' g (effect size) of the gene expression of GLUT1 and HK1 and glycolytic flux. The expression of MCAD was uniformly decreased. Mitochondrial respiratory capacity and fatty acid uptake varied considerably between studies, yet there was a model effect in carbohydrate respiratory capacity in MCT-rats. Conclusions This systematic review and meta-analysis on metabolic remodeling in the pressure-loaded RV showed a consistent increase in glucose uptake and glycolysis, strongly suggest a downregulation of beta-oxidation, and showed divergent and model-specific changes regarding fatty acid uptake and oxidative metabolism. To translate metabolic results from animal models to human disease, more extensive characterization, including function, and uniformity in methodology and studied variables, will be required.

Anne-Marie C. Koop

Center for Congenital Heart Diseases,
Department of Pediatric Cardiology,
University Medical Center Groningen,
Center for Congenital Heart Diseases, Department of Pediatric Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen

University of Groningen

Quantification of Biventricular Function and Morphology by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Mice with Pulmonary Artery Banding

Anne-Marie C. Koop

Center for Congenital Heart Diseases,Department of Pediatric Cardiology,University Medical Center Groningen,Center for Congenital Heart Diseases, Department of Pediatric Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen

University of Groningen

Quantification of Biventricular Function and Morphology by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Mice with Pulmonary Artery Banding

Center for Congenital Heart Diseases,
Department of Pediatric Cardiology,
University Medical Center Groningen,
Center for Congenital Heart Diseases, Department of Pediatric Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen