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© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.
Editorial |
Imaging the Murine Cardiovascular System With Magnetic Resonance
From the Departments of Medicine and Radiology, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.
Correspondence to Robert G. Weiss, MD, Carnegie 584, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21287-6568. E-mail rgweiss@rad.jhu.edu
Key Words: magnetic resonance imaging • left ventricular hypertrophy • diastolic function • dobutamine • transgenic mice
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Introduction |
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Evolving imaging technologies are changing the breadth and depth of fundamental and integrated investigations of cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology. Magnetic resonance (MR) techniques are arguably some of the most rapidly evolving and powerful imaging approaches for studying the cardiovascular system. They provide nondestructive and often unique insights into cardiac and vascular morphology, function, and metabolism in animal models and people. Several sophisticated imaging techniques have been adapted for studies of transgenic mice to characterize the pathophysiological consequences of targeted genetic manipulations.
Despite the importance to molecular biologists and
cardiovascular physiologists, imaging the mouse heart
under physiological conditions is nontrivial. The
mouse heart is small (
0.1 g) and fast (600 beats/min or 10
beats/sec). Therefore, high spatial and temporal resolution are
fundamental requirements for murine cardiac imaging. Several imaging
techniques are being adapted for mouse studies, including x-ray
computed tomography, positron emission tomography,
echocardiography, and magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI). Echocardiography is presently the most
commonly used technology for cardiovascular mouse
imaging, and its applications are expanding. Two-dimensionally directed
M-mode echocardiography is available in many
laboratories and has become a relatively inexpensive, portable imaging
technique for rapid phenotypic
analysis.1 Cardiac
MRI applications in the mouse have lagged behind those of
echocardiography, but they are quickly becoming
state of the art.
There are several clear and established strengths of MRI for
murine cardiovascular studies, and these include
intrinsically high-tissue contrast, tomographic acquisitions, and the
ability to study many physiological
parameters. High MR tissue contrast greatly enhances
delineation of cardiac and vascular
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