Transgenic animals are an important tool in cardiovascular research and much of the transgenic animal modeling is done in mice. Mice, however, present unique problems with very fast heart rates (500-600 beats per minute), and very small size of the heart (4-6 millimeter diameter). We have developed surgical techniques to appropriately perform open-chest surgery to cause coronary artery occlusion and reperfusion, inject agents into the myocardium and/or occlude the transverse aorta. We have developed techniques to measure blood flow velocity by using pulsed Doppler instrumentation in a non-invasive procedure, M-mode echocardiography designed to measure cardiac dimensions and motion in mice and nuclear imaging for ejection fraction and whole heart function. Hence, we have the technology to study the development of cardiac abnormalities with various therapies and studying the hemodynamics and heart function in a non-invasive longitudinal manner in mice, rats or larger animals. The formation of the transgenic animals will also be carried out by various laboratories who model transgenic animals. The transgenic modeling will be coordinated with our ability to measure physiological function of these animals with time.
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