Cardiovascular assessment in Female Spotted Paca ( Cuniculus paca )

ABSTRACT Aiming to provide cardiovascular morphophysiology information on the Cuniculus paca, an important neotropical rodent, eight healthy adult females of this species were evaluated three times by echocardiography under general anesthesia with isoflurane every 15 days. The exams were performed by a single experienced evaluator with the animals positioned in right and left decubitus. Posteriorly, two expert evaluators measured the cardiac chambers, walls and flow patterns, by B-mode, M-mode, and Doppler ultrasonography. The resulting values were compared among evaluators and periods by the Bland-Altman agreement test and several descriptive statistics were presented for each parameter. Echocardiographic images were obtained between the second and fifth left and right intercostal spaces, enabling the measurement of heart chambers and walls, mitral, tricuspid, aortic and pulmonary valves blood flows, and the ejection and shortening fractions calculation. None of the studied variables showed inter-observers or inter-periods variations. This study provided some normal echocardiographic variables, applicable to epidemiological, pathophysiological or case studies in the Cuniculus paca and phylogenetically close species.

摘要 为获取重要新热带啮齿类动物斑豚鼠（Cuniculus paca）的心血管形态生理学信息，本研究纳入8只健康成年雌性斑豚鼠，每隔15天以异氟烷（isoflurane）实施全身麻醉，随后采用超声心动图（echocardiography）对其进行三次检测评估。所有检查均由一名经验丰富的操作者完成，实验动物取右侧及左侧卧位。随后，两名专家评估者采用B型超声（B-mode）、M型超声（M-mode）及多普勒超声（Doppler ultrasonography）对心脏腔室、心室壁及血流模式进行量化测量。采用Bland-Altman一致性检验对不同评估者及不同检测周期的测量结果进行一致性分析，并给出各参数的多项描述性统计指标。超声心动图图像采集于左侧及右侧第2至第5肋间，可实现心脏腔室、心室壁、二尖瓣、三尖瓣、主动脉瓣及肺动脉瓣血流的测量，并可计算射血分数（ejection fraction）与短轴缩短率（shortening fraction）。本研究未观测到所纳入的研究变量存在观察者间或检测周期间的显著差异。本研究获取了斑豚鼠的正常超声心动图参考值，可应用于斑豚鼠及系统发育近缘物种的流行病学、病理生理学或病例相关研究。