Vevo 770 High Resolution Ultrasound Imaging System

描述(由申请人提供)：该提案请求资金帮助收购Vevo 770高分辨率成像系统，这是一种专门用于描述人类心血管疾病的小鼠和大鼠模型的超声波机。近年来，转基因小鼠的发展加深了我们对心脏生理和病理状态的基本机制的了解。超声心动图已成为一种评估小动物左心室(LV)大小和功能的重要非侵入性技术，减少了确定心脏表型所需的动物数量，并允许在同一动物中进行连续评估。Vevo 770将是一种专门的研究超声心动图，易于进行研究，并将保存在无病毒抗体(屏障)啮齿动物设施中，以便对转基因动物进行系列评估。Vevo 770的高空间分辨率允许对常规超声心动图无法显示的结构进行系列评估，如右室、新生儿心脏、大血管。在肺损伤模型中，将连续跟踪右室大小和功能，以评估包括吸入一氧化氮(NO)在内的新疗法的有效性(Zapol博士)，以及与编码BMPR-II基因突变相关的肺动脉高压模型(Bloch博士)。在压力超负荷模型中，将精确和重复地评估左心室质量和功能，以深入了解一氧化氮合酶3(Bloch博士)和细胞骨架蛋白(钱博士)的作用。对心肌梗死后啮齿动物左室重构的评估将有助于更好地了解这一过程中涉及的机制(Levine博士)。对主动脉和颈动脉的连续跟踪将有助于确定一氧化氮合酶对动脉粥样硬化的影响(黄博士)，并将提供对炎症在血管动脉瘤形成中的作用的见解(Gerszten博士)。最后，检测少量的超声心动图造影剂可能会使干细胞成像的新方法成为可能(Hajjar博士)。关联性。Vevo770是一种专门用于小动物的超声仪，能够对非常精细的心脏或血管结构进行非侵入性成像。我们将使用这台机器来更好地了解肺和全身高血压、动脉粥样硬化、心力衰竭所涉及的途径，以及尝试对干细胞进行成像。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests funds to aid in the acquisition the Vevo 770 High Resolution Imaging System, an ultrasound machine dedicated to characterizing mouse and rat models of human cardiovascular disorders. In recent years, the development of genetically-altered mice has enhanced our understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying cardiac physiology and pathological states. Echocardiography has emerged as a crucial noninvasive technique to assess the left ventricular (LV) size and function of small animals, reducing the number of animals necessary to define a cardiac phenotype and allowing for serial evaluation in the same animal. The Vevo 770 will be a dedicated research echocardiogram, easily available for ongoing studies, and will be kept inside the viral-antibody free (barrier) rodent facility, allowing for serial evaluation of genetically-modified animals. The high spatial resolution of the Vevo 770 permits serial evaluation of structures which are not visualized by conventional echocardiograms, such as the right ventricle, neonatal hearts, great vessels. The right ventricular size and function will be followed serially in models of lung injury to assess the efficacy of novel therapies including inhaled nitric oxide (NO) (Dr. Zapol) and in models of pulmonary hypertension associated with mutations in the gene encoding BMPR-II (Dr. Bloch). Left ventricular mass and function will be assessed precisely and repeatedly in models of pressure-overload to gain insights into the role of nitric oxide synthase 3 (Dr. Bloch) and cytoskeletal proteins (Dr. Chien). Assessment of rodent LV remodeling after myocardial infarction will allow better understanding of the mechanisms involved in this process (Dr. Levine). Serial follow-up of the aorta and carotids will help to determine the impact of NO synthases on atherosclerosis (Dr. Huang) and will provide insights into the role of inflammation in vascular aneurysms formation (Dr. Gerszten). Finally, detecting small quantities of echocardiographic contrast may enable new ways to image stem cells (Dr. Hajjar). Relevance. The Vevo770 is an ultrasound machine dedicated to small animals and capable of noninvasively imaging very fine cardiac or vascular structures. We will use this machine to better understand the pathways involved in pulmonary and systemic high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart failure, as well as to attempt to image stem cells.