Research Echocardiography System

描述（由申请人提供）： 分子心脏病学研究所（MCRI）和新英格兰医学中心转化研究中心共同探索人类心血管疾病的分子机制，并在小型和大型动物模型中评估新的治疗方式。MCRI主要由NIH资助的研究人员组成，他们具有不同但互补的研究兴趣和专业知识。MRCI的两大研究领域包括心肌细胞和血管生物学。我们研究所正在进行的NIH资助的研究探索了导致心肌细胞分化和肥大的重要介质和信号通路。这项研究需要使用人类心脏病的动物模型。对于涉及小动物（小鼠和大鼠）的研究，我们使用配备所有必要仪器的小鼠生理学核心，以进行开胸和闭胸小动物手术和侵入性血流动力学测量。然而，用于非侵入性评价小鼠模型心腔大小和功能的专用超声心动图系统尚不容易获得。 我们研究所的研究人员还探索了导致动脉粥样硬化和高血压等血管疾病的机制。这项工作的大部分最终延伸到临床竞技场，其中使用血管超声衍生的肱动脉反应性测量非侵入性地测量患者的血管内皮功能。在这里，一个专用的研究超声心动图系统将大大提高完成这些研究的能力，并增加我们的吞吐量。 为了探索分子或药物治疗的可能临床效用，需要在大型动物模型中进行临床前研究。因此，为了扩大我们的研究能力，最近在我们机构的全力支持下成立了转化研究中心，该中心是心脏病学部门和MCRI的组成部分。该实验室正在进行的工作提出了另一个日益增长的需求，即使用高质量超声心动图成像在大型动物模型中对LV腔室大小、壁厚和功能进行体内分析。 因此，基于塔夫茨-新英格兰医学中心心血管研究不断增长的需求，本提案的目的是获得购买专用超声心动图系统所需的支持，该系统可用于正在进行和未来研究的各种成像应用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Molecular Cardiology Research Institute (MCRI) and the Center for Translational Research at New England Medical Center together explore molecular mechanisms of human cardiovascular diseases, and evaluate new therapeutic modalities in both small and large animal models. The MCRI consists of predominantly NIH funded investigators with varied yet complementary research interests and expertise. Two broad areas of research within the MRCI include cardiomyocyte and vascular biology. Ongoing, NIH-funded studies within our Institute explore important mediators and signaling pathways that lead to cardiomyocyte differentiation and hypertrophy. This line of research requires the use of animal models of human cardiac disease. For studies involving small animals (mice and rats) we utilize a Mouse Physiology Core equipped with all of the necessary instruments to perform open and closed chest small animal surgery and invasive hemodynamic measurements. However, a dedicated Echocardiography System for the non-invasive evaluation of cardiac chamber size and function in murine models is not readily available. Investigators within our Institute also explore the mechanisms contributing to vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and hypertension. Much of this work ultimately extends into the clinical arena whereby vascular endothelial function is measured in patients non-invasively using vascular ultrasound-derived, brachial artery reactivity measurements. Here, again, a dedicated research-echocardiography system would greatly enhance the ability to complete these studies and increase our throughput. To explore the possible clinical utility of molecular or pharmacologic treatments, pre-clinical studies are required in large animal models. Thus, to expand our research capabilities, the Center for Translational Research Center was recently created with the full support of our institution, and is an integral part of both the Division of Cardiology and the MCRI. The ongoing work in this lab poses yet another growing need for the in vivo analysis of LV chamber size, wall thickness, and function in large animal models using high quality, echocardiographic imaging. Thus, based on the growing needs within cardiovascular research at Tufts-New England Medical Center, the purpose of this proposal is to gain the support needed to purchase a dedicated Echocardiography System that can be utilized for a wide array of imaging applications for ongoing and future research.