A mouse cardiovascular profile score for standard assessment of fetal cardiac function

The relationship between Doppler ultrasound of mouse fetal cardiovascular hemodynamics and assessment of heart/placental function has not been well established. The objective was to standardize evaluation of mouse cardiac function using echocardiographic (echo) and morphometric data from control and experimental embryos on E15.5 in order to define a mouse Cardiovascular Profile (CVP) score. Doppler ultrasound data collected over 5 years that analyzed effects of environmental factors and gene dosage on mouse fetal cardiac function were used to define the CVP score. Blood flow was determined noninvasively using two‐dimensional real‐time echo, color and pulse Doppler. Blood velocity wave forms from three consecutive cardiac cycles were analyzed. Morphometric data on embryonic body weight (BW), placental weight (PW), and crown‐rump length (CRL) were obtained. Statistical analysis was performed on the echo data of two control (wild type/untreated/uninjected and wild type/saline‐injected) groups and four experimental groups (lithium‐, homocysteine‐, ethanol‐exposed embryos and homozygous Cited2 (−/−) embryos). Conclusions Significant statistical parameters were defined for cut‐off values in five categories: (1) morphological parameters, (2) valvular regurgitation (semilunar or AV), (3) myocardial performance index (4) arterial Doppler (umbilical artery, descending aorta, outflow), and (5) venous Doppler (ductus venosus, umbilical vein). A CVP score totaling 10 points was defined to assess mouse heart function and cardiovascular integrity of fetuses within a litter. Funding : NHLBI, AHA