Abstract
Echocardiography is a useful technique for diagnosing cardiovascular disease that is safe, reproducible and accurate. A comprehensive understanding of echocardiographic parameters in different age and sex is useful for cardiovascular study. Thirty Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes at different age underwent repetitive echocardiography. The characteristics of early and late diastolic waves through the mitral inflow depend on the heart rate. The rats had fast heart rates, with early and late diastolic Doppler flows commonly fused. Several parameters in male rats were higher than in females except for ejection fraction, fractional shortening, isovolumetric relaxation time, pre-ejection fraction and ejection time that did not differ. Different age, sex, breed and anesthesia protocol can all cause diverse results. Rat echocardiography can be potentially used as a model for human cardiovascular research. Results revealed changes in echocardiographic parameters in different age and sex to better understand normal cardiovascular functions in rat model
Highlights
Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity worldwide
Body weight of male rats appeared higher than females and was significantly different from 6 weeks of age to the end of the study period (Figure 1a)
Mean and diastolic blood pressures averaged 110 mm Hg, 75 mm Hg and 60 mm Hg, respectively with a significant difference in systolic blood pressure between male and female rats but mean and diastolic blood pressures did not differ throughout the study period
Summary
Evaluation of cardiovascular functions requires information concerning blood pressure, blood profile and medical imaging such as chest radiography and echocardiography. Non-invasive echocardiography is a powerful technique for evaluating heart structures and functions. Echocardiography has been established as a safe, reproducible and accurate examination technique. The use of rodents as a model in cardiovascular research has been widely accepted but some parameters differ with diverse age, sex, breed and anesthesia protocol (Oláh et al, 2019; Walsh-Wilkinson et al, 2019; Watson et al, 2004). A comprehensive understanding of echocardiographic parameters in rats is important to provide information for researching the cardiovascular system. The aim of this study was to determine cardiac changes of Sprague-Dawley rats measured by the echocardiography technique in different age and sex under isoflurane anesthesia
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