Abstract
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an accurate and versatile imaging modality to visualize the cardiovascular system in normal or abnormal conditions. In preclinical research, small rodent animal models of human cardiovascular disease are frequently used to investigate the basic underlying mechanism of normal and abnormal cardiac function and for monitoring the disease progression under therapy. Technological improvements in MRI have been extended to small animals such non-invasively providing insights into cardiac morphology, function, perfusion and pathophysiology in various cardiac disease. This article reviews the basic technical approaches to in vivo small animal magnetic resonance imaging and its variants for the most promising applications.
Highlights
Cardiovascular disease is considered the leading cause of death in the developed world, with high morbidity and mortality [1, 2]
Since the implementation of the 3 Rs principles into the European Directive 2010/63/EU, medical imaging is highly recommended in translational research, because it can visualize the progression of the disease longitudinally often in a quantitative and non-invasive way
Other agents such as pentobarbitone, fentanyl/fluanisone, and urethane were shown to result in profound cardiovascular depression or prolonged recovery time and are not recommended in cardiac imaging
Summary
Cardiovascular disease is considered the leading cause of death in the developed world, with high morbidity and mortality [1, 2]. Pachon et al [39] suggested that ketamine was the least effective on the LV function and the heart rate, followed by Avertin, isoflurane (see below), and ketaminexylazine combination Other agents such as pentobarbitone, fentanyl/fluanisone, and urethane were shown to result in profound cardiovascular depression or prolonged recovery time and are not recommended in cardiac imaging. Because of high heart and respiratory rates, real-time imaging of cardiac function is normally not possible and CMR imaging generally requires synchronization of the data acquisition to the cardiac and respiratory motion. Real-time cardiac tyGA radial sparse sense (tyGRASP) MRI in mice appears feasible with sufficient image quality for the quantification of global functional parameters It enables a flexible number of projections for image reconstruction and offers the possibility for cardiac-phase dependent adjustment of the temporal resolution
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