Recent advances in small-animal cardiovascular imaging

BMW Tsui, DL Kraitchman - Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2009 - Soc Nuclear Med
Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2009Soc Nuclear Med
Because of the development of gene knockout and transgenic technologies, small animals,
such as mice and rats, have become the most widely used animals for cardiovascular
imaging studies. Imaging can provide a method to serially evaluate the effect of a particular
genetic mutation or pharmacologic therapy (1). In addition, imaging can be used as a
noninvasive screening tool for particular cardiovascular phenotypes. Outcome measures of
therapeutic efficacy, such as ejection fraction, left ventricular mass, and ventricular volume …
Because of the development of gene knockout and transgenic technologies, small animals, such as mice and rats, have become the most widely used animals for cardiovascular imaging studies. Imaging can provide a method to serially evaluate the effect of a particular genetic mutation or pharmacologic therapy (1). In addition, imaging can be used as a noninvasive screening tool for particular cardiovascular phenotypes. Outcome measures of therapeutic efficacy, such as ejection fraction, left ventricular mass, and ventricular volume, can be determined noninvasively as well. Furthermore, small-animal imaging can be used to develop and test new molecular imaging probes (2,3). However, the small size of the heart and rapid heart rate of murine models create special challenges for cardiovascular imaging.
Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging