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High-Frequency Ultrasound for the Study of Early Mouse Embryonic Cardiovascular System

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Abstract

An accurate diagnosis of congenital heart defects during fetal development is critical for interventional planning. Mice can be used to generate animal models with heart defects, and high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) imaging enables in utero imaging of live mouse embryos. A wide range of physiological measurements is possible using Doppler-HFUS imaging; limitations of any single measurement warrant a multiparameter approach to characterize cardiovascular function. Doppler-HFUS was used to explore the embryonic (heart, aorta) and extraembryonic (umbilical blood flow) circulatory systems to create a database in normal mouse embryos between 9.5 and 16.5 days of gestation. Multivariate analyses were performed to explore correlations between gestational age and embryo echocardiographic parameters. Heart rate and peak velocity in the aorta were positively correlated with gestational time, whereas cardiac cycle length, isovolumetric relaxation time, myocardial performance index, and arterial deceleration time of the umbilical cord were negatively correlated with it. Doppler-HFUS facilitated detailed characterization of the embryonic mouse circulation and represents a useful tool for investigation of the early mouse embryonic cardiovascular system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Avanzate, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Via S Pansini 5, 80137, Napoli, Italy

    Adelaide Greco DVM, PhD, Anna Rita Daniela Coda MSc & Monica Ragucci MSc

  2. CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, Napoli, Italy

    Adelaide Greco DVM, PhD, Sandra Albanese MSc & Monica Ragucci MSc

  3. Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Napoli, Italy

    Anna Rita Daniela Coda MSc, Raffaele Liuzzi BPhys, Sara Gargiulo DVM, PhD & Marcello Mancini MD

  4. Università Parthenope Napoli, Napoli, Italy

    Sandra Albanese MSc

  5. IRCCS SDN, Napoli, Italy

    Luigi Auletta DVM, PhD & Marco Salvatore MD

  6. Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria e produzioni animali, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy

    Francesco Lamagna DVM, PhD

Authors
  1. Adelaide Greco DVM, PhD
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  2. Anna Rita Daniela Coda MSc
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  3. Sandra Albanese MSc
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  4. Monica Ragucci MSc
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  5. Raffaele Liuzzi BPhys
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  6. Luigi Auletta DVM, PhD
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  7. Sara Gargiulo DVM, PhD
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  8. Francesco Lamagna DVM, PhD
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  9. Marco Salvatore MD
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  10. Marcello Mancini MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adelaide Greco DVM, PhD.

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Greco, A., Coda, A.R.D., Albanese, S. et al. High-Frequency Ultrasound for the Study of Early Mouse Embryonic Cardiovascular System. Reprod. Sci. 22, 1649–1655 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719115594017

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719115594017

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