Research Center, Montreal Heart Institute, Quebec, Canada.
Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 22;8(1):1363. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-19625-2.
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with left heart diseases is the most prevalent cause of PH. The scarcity of studies exploring the pathophysiology and therapies of group II PH resides in the lack of validated small animal models with non-invasive determination of the presence and severity of PH. Heart failure (HF) was induced in mice by coronary artery ligation. Mice developed PH as evidenced by an elevated right ventricular (RV) systolic pressure and RV hypertrophy. Detailed non-invasive echocardiographic analysis on the left and right ventricles showed impaired left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function. In addition, RV hypertrophy was confirmed by echo and accompanied by impaired function as well as increased pulmonary resistance. Correlation analysis validated the use of the LV wall-motion score index (WMSI) at a threshold value of ≥2.0 as a powerful and reliable indicator for the presence of PH and RV dysfunction. Echocardiography is an accurate non-invasive technique to diagnose PH in a HF mouse model. Moreover, an echocardiographic parameter of infarct size and LV function, the LV WMSI, reliably correlates with the presence of PH, RV hypertrophy and RV dysfunction and could be used to improve efficiency and design of pre-clinical studies.
与左心疾病相关的肺动脉高压（PH）是 PH 最常见的原因。由于缺乏经过验证的、可用于非侵入性确定 PH 存在和严重程度的小型动物模型，因此针对 II 型 PH 的病理生理学和治疗方法的研究很少。通过冠状动脉结扎在小鼠中诱导心力衰竭（HF）。右心室（RV）收缩压和 RV 肥厚证实小鼠发生 PH。对左心室和右心室进行详细的非侵入性超声心动图分析显示左心室（LV）收缩和舒张功能受损。此外，通过回声确认 RV 肥厚，并伴有功能障碍和肺动脉阻力增加。相关性分析验证了使用 LV 壁运动评分指数（WMSI）≥2.0 作为 PH 和 RV 功能障碍存在的有力且可靠指标。超声心动图是诊断 HF 小鼠模型中 PH 的一种准确的非侵入性技术。此外，梗死面积和 LV 功能的超声心动图参数，即 LV WMSI，与 PH、RV 肥厚和 RV 功能障碍的存在可靠相关，可用于提高临床前研究的效率和设计。
