Left ventricular torsion is equal in mice and humans

• Published in: American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology Vol. 278; no. 4; pp. H1117 - H1123
• Main Authors: Henson, R. E, Song, S. K, Pastorek, J. S, Ackerman, J. J. H, Lorenz, C. H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.04.2000
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Biomechanical Phenomena; Cardiac Volume - physiology; Diastole - physiology; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - standards; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - statistics & numerical data; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred Strains; Observer Variation; Reference Values; Reproducibility of Results; Species Specificity; Systole - physiology; Torsion Abnormality; Ventricular Function; Ventricular Function, Left - physiology
• ISSN: 0363-6135; 1522-1539
• DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.2000.278.4.H1117

1  Center for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, Cardiovascular Division, Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University Medical Center, 2  Department of Chemistry, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63110; and 3  Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37235 Global cardiac function has been studied in small animals with methods such as echocardiography, cine-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and cardiac catheterization. However, these modalities make little impact on delineation of pathophysiology at the tissue level. The advantage of tagged cine-MRI technique is that the twisting motion of the ventricle, referred to as torsion, can be measured noninvasively, reflecting the underlying shearing motion of individual planes of myofibrils that generate wall thickening and ventricular ejection. Thus we sought to determine whether the mechanism of ventricular ejection, as measured by torsion, was the same in both humans and mice. Nine mice and ten healthy humans were studied with tagged cine-MRI. The magnitude and systolic time course of ventricular torsion were equivalent in mouse and humans, when normalized for heart rate and ventricular length. The end-systolic torsion angle was 12.7 ± 1.7° in humans vs. 2.0   ± 1.5° in mice unnormalized and 1.9 ± 0.3°/cm vs. 2.7 ± 2.3°/cm when normalized for ventricular length). These results support the premise that ventricular torsion may be a uniform measure of normal ventricular ejection across mammalian species and heart sizes. murine; ventricular function; magnetic resonance imaging; kinematics