Cardiac MR elastography of the mouse: Initial results. Issue 6 (9th January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Yifei; Royston, Thomas J.; Klatt, Dieter; Lewandowski, E. Douglas
• Is Part Of: Magnetic resonance in medicine. Volume 76:Issue 6(2016)
• Page Start: 1879
• Page End: 1886
• Publication Date: 2016-01-09
• Subjects: MRE -- elastography -- cardiac MRE -- mouse -- left ventricle stiffness -- myocardium; Nuclear magnetic resonance -- Periodicals; Electron paramagnetic resonance -- Periodicals; 616.07548
• DOI: 10.1002/mrm.26030
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0740-3194

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: Many cardiovascular diseases are associated with abnormal function of myocardial contractility or dilatability, which is related to elasticity changes of the myocardium over the cardiac cycle. The mouse is a common animal model in studies of the progression of various cardiomyopathies. We introduce a novel noninvasive approach using microscopic scale MR elastography (MRE) to measure the myocardium stiffness change during the cardiac cycle on a mouse model. Methods: A harmonic mechanical wave of 400 Hz was introduced into the mouse body. An electrocardiograph‐gated and respiratory‐gated fractional encoding cine‐MRE pulse sequence was applied to encode the resulting oscillatory motion on a short‐axis slice of the heart. Five healthy mice (age range, 3–13.5 mo) were examined. The weighted summation effective stiffness of the left ventricle wall during the cardiac cycle was estimated. Results: The ratio of stiffness at end diastole and end systole was 0.5–0.67. Additionally, variation in shear wave amplitude in the left ventricle wall throughout the cardiac cycle was measured and found to correlate with estimates of stiffness variation. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the feasibility of implementing cardiac MRE on a mouse model. Magn Reson Med 76:1879–1886, 2016. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine