Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 17, 2025
Biventricular Assessment of Cardiac Function and Pressure-Volume Loops by Closed-Chest Catheterization in Mice
Published on: June 15, 2020
Biventricular Assessment of Cardiac Function and Pressure-Volume Loops by Closed-Chest Catheterization in Mice
Francois Potus1, Ashley Y Martin1, Brooke Snetsinger1
1Department of Medicine, Queen's University.
Insights
This study details a closed-chest cardiac catheterization technique in mice for assessing biventricular function using pressure-volume (PV) loops. This method provides a more physiological approach to evaluating cardiac performance in preclinical cardiovascular research.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Research
- Preclinical Animal Models
- Physiology
Background:
- Accurate assessment of cardiac function is crucial for cardiovascular and pulmonary-vascular preclinical research.
- Pressure-volume (PV) loops are vital for evaluating systolic and diastolic cardiac function, reflecting ventricular interdependence.
- Assessing both left and right heart function simultaneously in the same animal is important for a comprehensive understanding of cardiac performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe a detailed protocol for performing invasive, closed-chest, sequential left and right ventricular PV loops in mice.
- To provide a more physiological method for cardiac catheterization compared to open-chest approaches, minimizing artifacts.
- To outline the procedure from neck dissection to data acquisition and analysis for high-quality PV loop assessment.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a closed-chest cardiac catheterization approach in mice, mirroring human procedures.
- Employed admittance technology with a specialized mouse pressure-volume catheter and acquisition system.
- Detailed the surgical steps, catheter insertion, positioning, and data acquisition process.
Main Results:
- Successfully established a procedure for acquiring sequential left and right ventricular PV loops in the same animal.
- Discussed criteria for ensuring the acquisition of high-quality PV loops.
- Briefly described the analysis of PV loops and hemodynamic parameters for quantifying ventricular function.
Conclusions:
- The described closed-chest cardiac catheterization technique allows for a more physiological assessment of biventricular cardiac function in mice.
- This method is invaluable for evaluating diastolic pressures and overall cardiac performance in preclinical research.
- The protocol provides a standardized approach for obtaining high-quality pressure-volume loop data in rodent models.
Abstract:
Assessment of cardiac function is essential to conduct cardiovascular and pulmonary-vascular preclinical research. Pressure-volume loops (PV loops) generated by recording both pressure and volume during cardiac catheterization are vital when assessing both systolic and diastolic cardiac function. Left and right heart function are closely related, reflected in ventricular interdependence. Thus, recording biventricular function in the same animal is important to get a complete assessment of cardiac function. In this protocol, a closed chest approach to cardiac catheterization consistent with the way catheterization is performed in patients is adopted in mice. While challenging, the closed chest strategy is a more physiological approach, because opening the chest results in major changes in preload and afterload that create artifacts, most notably a fall in systemic blood pressure. While high-resolution echocardiography is used to assess rodents, cardiac catheterization is invaluable, particularly when assessing diastolic pressures in both ventricles. Described here is a procedure to perform invasive, closed chest, sequential left and right ventricular pressure-volume (PV) loops in the same animal. PV loops are acquired using admittance technology with a mouse pressure-volume catheter and pressure-volume system acquisition. The procedure is described, beginning with the neck dissection, which is required to access the right jugular vein and the right carotid artery, to the insertion and positioning of the catheter, and finally the data acquisition. Then, the criteria required to ensure the acquisition of high-quality PV loops are discussed. Finally, the analysis of the left and right ventricular PV loops and the different hemodynamic parameters available to quantify systolic and diastolic ventricular function are briefly described.
