Search

Aim: Studies on the usefulness of speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) in the evaluation of the left ventricle in rats with stress cardiomyopathy (SCM) are limited. Our aim was to investigate whether strain values by STE and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) could predict early myocardial injury in rats with SCM.Material and Methods: SCM was induced in Sprague-Dawley female rats using immobilization (IMO) stress. Biomarkers and echocardiographic parameters were evaluated and compared among groups (group 1 - 30 minutes after IMO stress, group 2 - 24 hours after IMO stress, and control group). We defined myocardial injury as a left ventricular ejection fraction <50%. Possible predictors of early myocardial injury were determined by univariate logistic regression, and independent predictors of early myocardial injury were investigated with multivariable logistic regression.Results: A total of 44 rats with a mean weight of 426±33 g were evaluated. Group 1 had the highest plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine levels (p<0.001) and the highest heart rate (p<0.001). In univariate logistic regression, cTnI (OR=2.61 [1.02‒10.25], p=0.043) and global longitudinal strain (GLS) (OR=2.13 [1.12‒6.26], p=0.022) were predictive of early myocardial injury. When GLS and cTnI were included in a multivariate analysis, only GLS remained an independent predictor of early myocardial injury (OR=2.67 [1.14‒14.76], p=0.027).Conclusions: STE is useful for the quantitative detection of subtle myocardial abnormalities in rats with SCM. GLS may provide a reliable and non-invasive method to predict early myocardial injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]