Cardiomyopathy characterizing and heart failure risk predicting by echocardiography and pathoanatomy in aged male mice.

Correlation between echocardiographic and pathoanatomic variables and their prognostic value in murine cardiomyopathy models remain unknown. Using echocardiography, morphometrics, and survival monitoring, we characterized transgenic (TG) mice with dilated cardiomyopathy due to cardiac overexpression of β-adrenoceptors focusing on predicting heart failure (HF) risk and HF mortality. In 12-month-old non-TG and TG mice, echocardiography was performed to determine left ventricular (LV) dimensions (d), wall thickness (h), and fractional shortening (FS). Animals were monitored for 3 months for survival. Organ weights and pathological events indicating left HF were determined. TG mice (n = 76) had reduced FS and enlarged LV, and 79% died of HF or likely arrhythmias during the follow-up period while all non-TG mice (n = 26) survived. These mice with left HF also had pulmonary congestion and hypertrophy/dilatation of the right ventricle (RV). Weights of lungs, RV, and atria were intercorrelated (r = 0.79-0.83) and also negatively correlated with FS × (h/d) index (r = -0.502 to -0.609). By FS × (h/d) tertiles, TG mice of low tertiles were identified with the highest mortality (96%) largely due to HF (76%). In conclusion, in aged cardiomyopathy mice a good correlation existed between echocardiographic and pathoanatomic variables. Echocardiography-derived LV function and remodeling were useful in identifying a subgroup of TG mice with a high risk of HF and HF fatality.