Cardiovascular assessment in Female Spotted Paca ( Cuniculus paca )

V.T Almeida,W.R.R Vicente,V.J.C Santos,A.E Kawanami,M.A.R Feliciano,R.A.R Uscategui,F.F.P.C Barros,E.M Ortiz,W.A.Z Restan

doi:10.1590/1678-4162-10146

Abstract

ABSTRACT Aiming to provide cardiovascular morphophysiology information on the Cuniculus paca, an important neotropical rodent, eight healthy adult females of this species were evaluated three times by echocardiography under general anesthesia with isoflurane every 15 days. The exams were performed by a single experienced evaluator with the animals positioned in right and left decubitus. Posteriorly, two expert evaluators measured the cardiac chambers, walls and flow patterns, by B-mode, M-mode, and Doppler ultrasonography. The resulting values were compared among evaluators and periods by the Bland-Altman agreement test and several descriptive statistics were presented for each parameter. Echocardiographic images were obtained between the second and fifth left and right intercostal spaces, enabling the measurement of heart chambers and walls, mitral, tricuspid, aortic and pulmonary valves blood flows, and the ejection and shortening fractions calculation. None of the studied variables showed inter-observers or inter-periods variations. This study provided some normal echocardiographic variables, applicable to epidemiological, pathophysiological or case studies in the Cuniculus paca and phylogenetically close species.

Highlights

The Spotted Paca (Cuniculus paca) is the second largest Neotropical rodent
Echocardiographic examination was performed by different observers, the echocardiography measurements did not show inter-observer or inter-period variations (P>0.05) and the confidence interval at 95% were considered the reference for the echocardiography parameters studied here, and were presented on Table 1 together with the measures of central tendency and variation
The mitral and tricuspid valves, at spectral Doppler flows examination showed the E and A waves fused in approximately 80% of the cases (Figure 5) and the parameters related to these waves (AM cm/sec, AM mmHg, EM cm/s, EM mmHg) could be measured only in cases in which these waves were separated

Summary

Introduction

The Spotted Paca (Cuniculus paca) is the second largest Neotropical rodent. In the wild, these animals have a life span of approximately 12 years, usually live alone or in pairs and are naturally distributed from the northeastern of Mexico to Paraguay and from the northern of Brazil to the southern of Argentina (Sainsbury, 2003). The cardiac morphophisiology assessment on healthy wild animals is important, because it provides a baseline for pathophysiological studies (Onuma et al, 2009; Black et al, 2011). It is important to consider that these animals require pharmacological restraint or anesthesia for their manipulation, and the drugs used for these procedures have varied effects on cardiovascular function (Szabuniewicz et al, 1978)

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Conclusion