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Updated: Jul 17, 2026
In Vivo Surface Electrocardiography for Adult Zebrafish
Published on: August 1, 2019
Cardiac evaluation of anesthetized Grevy's zebras (Equus grevyi)
Darcy B Adin1, Herbert W Maisenbacher, Nyurka Ojeda
1Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA.
Objective:
To determine ECG and echocardiographic measurements in healthy anesthetized Grevy's zebras (Equus grevyi).
Animals:
20 healthy zebras.
Procedures:
Auscultation, base-apex ECG, and echocardiography were performed on anesthetized zebras.
Results:
Low-grade systolic murmurs were detected in the left basilar region in 4 of 20 zebras. Evaluation of ECGs from 19 zebras revealed sinus rhythm with a predominantly negative QRS complex and a mean +/- SD heart rate of 67 +/- 10 beats/min. Echocardiograms of sufficient image quality were obtained for 16 zebras. Interventricular septal thickness in diastole, left ventricular chamber in diastole and systole, left atrial diameter, and left ventricular mass were significantly and moderately correlated with estimated body weight (r values ranged from 0.650 to 0.884). Detectable swirling of blood in the right and sometimes the left ventricles was detected in 9 of 16 zebras, whereas physiologic regurgitation of blood was detected for the aortic valve in 3 zebras, pulmonary valve in 2 zebras, mitral valve in 2 zebras, and tricuspid valve in 1 zebra.
Conclusions And Clinical Relevance:
Results of this study provide reference information for use in the cardiac evaluation of anesthetized Grevy's zebras.
