Effects of adenosine stress on myocardial perfusion in healthy mice

Abstract

Objective To explore the effects of adenosine stress on myocardial perfusion in healthy mice by myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE). Methods MCE was carried out to quantify regional myocardial perfusion at rest and during adenosine stress using a VEVO2100 system in 26 C57BL/6 mice.Echocardiography images from standardized parasternal long axis and short axis at papillary muscle level were consecutively acquired in real-time. All dynamic images were recorded for off-line analysis.Left ventricular myocardial perfusion quantitative parameters were acquired both under resting status and during adenosine stress. Replenishment curves of myocardial contrast were obtained and myocardial blood flow(MBF) was calculated. Results Twenty-six experimental animals successfully underwent MCE before and during adenosine stress. There was no significant difference in heart rate, left ventricular structure and functional parameters before and during adenosine stress (all P>0.05). Rates of signal rise β values which were used to estimate blood velocity of middle anterior septum and posterior wall in left ventricular long-axis view and anterior wall, lateral wall, inferior wall and septal wall in short-axis view at papillary muscle increased significantly during stress compared with those at rest (all P 0.05). The MBF in each segment of the myocardium increased significantly during stress compared with those in resting state (all P<0.05). Conclusions The physiological characteristics of myocardial perfusion in mice before and during adenosine stress were preliminarily obtained, which provided a basis for the application of adenosine stress echocardiography in cardiovascular disease models such as coronary heart disease in mice. Key words: Echocardiography, stress; Adenosine; Mice; Myocardial perfusion