Noninvasive assessment of vascular mechanics in mice

With the growth of genetic engineering, mice have become common as models of human diseases. Because of the small size and high heart rates in mice, high spatial and temporal resolutions are required for cardiovascular measurements. We have developed and applied high-resolution Doppler probes and signal processing to measure blood velocity in the heart and peripheral vessels of anesthetized mice noninvasively. We can measure velocity pulse arrival times for determining pulse-wave velocity and arterial stiffness; peripheral velocity waveforms as indices of arterial resistance, compliance, and wave reflections; and tail artery velocity for determining systolic and diastolic blood pressure using a tail-cuff. These noninvasive methods are convenient and easy to apply and have been used to detect and evaluate numerous cardiovascular phenotypes in mutant mice.