Embryonic echocardiography for assessment of congenital and functional cardiac defects.

Abstract

Cardiac function and morphology by mouse fetal echocardiography can be assessed by scanning the uterus extracted from the abdominal cavity (trans-uterine ultrasound) or the womb (trans-abdominal ultrasound). Advantages of transabdominal ultrasound include (1) non-invasive longitudinal analysis at different stages, reducing animal use; and (2) maintenance of natural environment, diminishing perturbations on functional parameters, which are more frequent in transuterine conditions. Here we describe both approaches, explaining how to identify congenital cardiac defects and defining the correlation between echocardiography findings and histological analysis.