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Updated: Apr 27, 2026
Echocardiographic and Histological Examination of Cardiac Morphology in the Mouse
Published on: October 26, 2017
[The dynamic alterations of electrocardiogram during progression of mouse cardiac hypertrophy]
Objective:
To find the characteristic parameters from electrocardiogram (ECG) which is most related to pathological progress, surface ECG was performed in mice at 2, 5, 9 and 13 week post surgery.
Methods:
Electrocardiogram recordings: The mice were anaesthetized with tribromoethanol (250 mg/kg, i.p.). Lead II surface ECG were acquired by using the Biopac System MP150 at a rate of 5 kHz.
Results:
(1) No arrhythmia was observed in Sham and 2-week Band mice. Spontaneous arrhythmias were observed in ECG recordings, with an incidence of 15%, 28% and 63% in 5-, 9- and 13-week Band mice, respectively. Tachyarrhythmias, such as frequent premature ventricular extrasystole, bigeminy, trigeminy, and paroxysmal tachycardia were found. (2) Analysis of ECG recordings revealed a significant prolongation of QT and QTc intervals. Compared with age-matched Sham mice, the increment in QT and QTc intervals was 20.4%, 32.7%, 49.7%, 61.0% and 27.1%, 32.1%, 43.9%, 59.1% at 2, 5, 9 and 13 week, respectively (P < 0.01). (3) The characteristic change in electrocardiogram was on the J wave. The amplitude of J wave was upward in Sham mice, and it was significantly flattened or inverted in Band mice. (4) Except that RR interval at 2 week showed a slight decrease, there was no significant change in PR interval and RR interval in Band mice.
Conclusion:
In the present study, we found that the increase incidence of spontaneous arrhythmias, prologation of QT interval and changes in the amplitude of the J wave in the surface ECG during progression of mouse cardiac hypertrophy and failure, and the progressive pattern indicated that a gradual aggravation of the ventricular repolarization delay in this mouse model.
