Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 18, 2025
Echocardiographic and Histological Examination of Cardiac Morphology in the Mouse
Published on: October 26, 2017
Echocardiographic evaluation in koi carp (Cyprinus carpio) under manual restraint compared to anesthesia with
Megan Partyka1, Michael Perlini2, Carl Toborowsky3
1Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Objective:
To establish an echocardiographic technique in koi carp (Cyprinus carpio), compare cardiopulmonary parameters under manual restraint versus anesthesia, and provide a gross anatomical and histologic cardiac description.
Methods:
A randomized, crossover echocardiography study was performed in 40 clinically healthy adult, unknown sex, privately owned koi carp on May 10 and 11 through June 26 and 27, 2021. Echocardiography was examined for each koi under manual restraint and isoeugenol at 50 ppm, with 3 measurements per examination performed by a radiologist and cardiologist. Two koi were euthanized for gross anatomic and histologic cardiac evaluation.
Results:
Mean ejection fraction (EF), stroke volume (SV), and cardiac output (CO) were significantly lower, mean heart rate (HR) was significantly higher, and opercular rate (OPR) was decreased significantly in anesthetized compared to manually restrained koi. Poor reproducibility for EF and SV was observed.
Conclusions:
Echocardiography was feasible in both manually restrained and anesthetized koi; however, this technique may best be applied to monitoring trends over time in individual fish due to low reproducibility. Significant differences in multiple cardiopulmonary parameters, including HR, EF, SV, CO, and OPR, were present between manually restrained and anesthetized koi. A gross anatomic and histologic cardiac description is provided for this species to pair with the echocardiographic images.
Clinical Relevance:
This study provides the first description of echocardiography, cardiac gross anatomy, and histology in koi. The results support echocardiography as a safe and practical noninvasive diagnostic for cardiac assessment in koi under both manual restraint and anesthesia.
