Animal Surgery and Echocardiography Core Facility

• We provide customized model development to meet the individual needs of the researcher at a fraction of the cost of an initial equipment investment and maintenance (i.e. Myocardial infarction, TAC, pacing, hypertension, etc).
  
• Data is produced efficiently and consistently.
  
• Our staff has a broad knowledge base in cardiovascular physiology and animal surgery.

Invasive hemodynamic measurements such as Pressure-Volume analysis

We currently have 2 systems at our disposal:
Transonic/Scisense
Millar

Our facility has almost 20 different probes for measuring PV loops in rats up to rabbits.

Blood pressure measurements can be obtained by invasive and non-invasive means, either acutely or chronically

DSI system
Acute Measurements through Transonic/Scisence system
Directly through cannulas we make in house that prevents the cost associated with battery refurbishment of other systems.

models include:
chronic myocardial infarction
ischemia/reperfusion
Transverse Aortic Constriction (TAC)
Pacing induced Heart Failure
Hypertension models: Endocrine (DOCA-salt), Environment (restraint stress induced), Pharmacological (NO based), Renal (2 Kidney, 1 clip), etc.

Surgical models of cardiovascular disease, viral infection through the use of in-house viral vector core, etc.

Our trained professionals can train personnel at our facility or come train you at your facility in performing surgery, echocardiography, animal handling, etc.

• Assistance with drug studies, tissue collection, blood collection
  
• Stereotaxic cannula placement/drug administration in rats for cerebral injections

Direct recordings of diaphragmatic EMG and 2 lead EKG

Achieved through acute or chronic instrumentation by either direct or telemetry based systems.

Tissue harvesting (lungs, heart, kidney, etc)

2 treadmill systems for rodent exercise tolerance testing and training

We have systems for performing echocardiography in small rodents and large animals.
Equipment includes:
1) Visualsonics Vevo 2100
2) Seimens Acuson Sequoia Ultrasound
Systems allow for:
 Superb B-Mode (2D) imaging for anatomical visualization and quantification, with enhanced temporal resolution with frame rates up to 740 fps (in 2D for a 4x4 mm FOV) , and enhanced image uniformity with multiple focal zones (included in base package)
 M-Mode for visualization and quantification of wall motion in cardiovascular research, single line acquisition allows for the very high-temporal (1000 fps) resolution necessary for analysis of LV function
 Anatomical M-Mode for adjustable anatomical orientation in reconstructed M-Mode imaging; software automatically optimizes field of view for maximum frame rate
 Pulsed-Wave Doppler Mode (PW) for quantification of blood flow
 Color Doppler Mode for detection of blood vessels including flow directional information and mean velocities; as well as for identification of small vessels not visible in B-Mode
 Power Doppler Mode for detection and quantification of blood flow in small vessels not visible in B-Mode; increased frame rates allow for significantly faster data acquisition
 Tissue Doppler Mode for quantification of myocardial tissue movement; for example in assessing diastolic dysfunction
 Vevo MicroMarker® Nonlinear Contrast Agent Imaging – for quantification of relative perfusion & molecular expression of endothelial cell surface markers; enhanced sensitivity to Vevo MicroMarker contrast agents as linear tissue signal is suppressed
 3D-Mode Imaging for anatomical and vascular visualization, when combined with either B-Mode, Power Doppler Mode or Nonlinear Contrast Imaging; allows for quantification of volume and vascularity within a defined anatomical structure
 Digital RF-Mode for the acquisition and exportation of radio frequency (RF) data in digital format for further analysis; full screen acquisition provides a complete data set for more comprehensive analysis and tissue characterization.