Fig 1.
Surgical steps for transverse aortic constriction in three-week old Lewis rats.
Upper hemisternotomy for access to aortic arch is performed with scissor from cranial (cr) to caudal (ca) (A). Brachiocephalic trunc (tbc) exits ascending aorta (aa) before trachea (black marker) is crossed and left common carotid (lcc) after trachea is crossed (B). Clip (white marker) is placed between tbc and lcc (C).
Fig 2.
Echocardiography of healthy and pressure-overloaded rat hearts.
Baseline echocardiography of healthy rat heart in B-Mode (A) and M-Mode (D). Rat heart 3 weeks after TAC with thickened myocardium and reduced end-systolic left ventricular diameter in B-Mode (B) and M-Mode (E). Rat heart 6 weeks after TAC with thinned myocardium and increased end-systolic left ventricular diameter in B-Mode (C) and M-Mode (F). Representative images.
Fig 3.
Left and right ventricular heart histology in transversal orientation and haematoxylin staining, Caspase-3 staining for evaluation of apoptotic myocyte numbers.
A: Healthy heart of 3-weeks old Lewis rat B: Hypertrophic heart of 4-weeks old Lewis rat, 3 weeks after TAC with thickened myocardium C: Failing heart of 7-weeks old Lewis rat, 6 weeks after TAC with thinned myocardium D-F: Healthy heart (D), hypertrophic heart (E) and failing heart (F) of Lewis rat, after 2 weeks of mechanical unloading. * Caspase-3 staining of the respective image to the left. Representative images.
Fig 4.
Technical considerations for heterotopic heart transplantation in Lewis rats with prior transverse aortic constriction.
Exposition of hypertrophic heart three weeks after transverse aortic constriction with right coronary artery (black marker), aorta (a), superior vena cava (vcs) and right atrial appendage (raa) (A). View from anterior with aorta (a), clip (white marker) and adhesions of aorta, pulmonal artery (pa), superior vena cava (vcs) and brachiocephalic trunc (tbc) (B). Cardioplegia has to be administered rapidly (C) via a 22 Gauge (0.9 mm) canula leading to collapse of heart function and fading of coronary arteries (D).
Table 1.
Echocardiographic parameters.