Noninvasive ultrasonic measurement of arterial wall motion in mice

• Main Authors: Hartley, C.J., Reddy, A.K., Madala, S., Entman, M.L., Michael, L.H., Taffet, G.E.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: eng ; jpn
• Subjects: arterial mechanics; Atherosclerosis; Blood flow; blood velocity; Cardiology; Carotid arteries; carotid artery; Doppler displacement; Mice; Motion measurement; Probes; Pulse measurements; Signal generators; Ultrasonic variables measurement
• DOI: 10.1109/IEMBS.2004.1404036

To facilitate assessment of arterial function, we developed a noninvasive Doppler method for measuring vessel motion in genetically altered mice. A 20 MHz probe was held by an alligator clip and positioned over the carotid arteries of 16 mice including six 3 to 5-month old wild-type (WT), four 30-month old senescent (Old), two apolipoprotein-E null (ApoE), and four alpha smooth muscle actin null (αSMA) mice. Doppler signals were obtained simultaneously from both vessel walls and from blood flow using one or two probes. The displacement signals from the near and far walls were subtracted to generate a diameter signal from which the excursion and an augmentation index were calculated. The excursion ranged between 13 μm (in ApoE) and 95 μm (in αSMA). The augmentation index was lowest in the WT mice (0.06) and highest in the Old mice (0.29). This noninvasive method is able to identify and confirm characteristic changes in arterial properties associated with age, atherosclerosis, and the absence of vascular tone.