Echocardiographic Evaluation of Mice

Transthoracic M-mode and Doppler echocardiographic examinations were performed using the Vevo 3100 with a 40 MHz transducer (MX550S; VisualSonics, Toronto, Canada) as previously described [38 (link)]. Mice were placed on a heating pad and a nose cone with 2% isoflurane in 100% oxygen was applied. The temperature was maintained at 36.5 to 37.5 °C. Ultrasound gel was placed on the chest of the anesthetized mouse. The ultrasound probe was placed in contact with the ultrasound gel and scanning was performed over 30 min. The temperature and heart rate were constantly monitored during the scanning. M-mode images were used to measure LV chamber size and wall thickness, among other parameters.