Normal Blood Flow in Rat Abdominal Aorta: An Ultrasound Study

TL;DR

This study uses ultrasound to measure blood flow in the abdominal aorta of growing rats and establishes normative values for different age groups.

Contribution

The study provides age-specific blood flow velocity norms in the abdominal aorta of growing rats for use in vascular graft research.

Findings

Blood flow velocity varies with age in different regions of the abdominal aorta in growing rats.

Normative values were established for use in tissue-engineered vascular graft studies.

No significant hemodynamic changes were observed in senile rats compared to younger animals.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Ultrasound Doppler diagnostics is a modern diagnostic method, routinely used to determine the blood flow velocity in vessels in clinical practice and scientific experiments. The aim of this study was to investigate hemodynamics and identify blood flow velocity norms for various age groups of animals in the range of two to six months. Methods: This study presents the blood flow velocity characteristics in different areas of the abdominal aorta of 30 growing Wistar rats two to six months old. The data from senile rats aged 24 months were used as a reference, since these animals should not show any changes in hemodynamics associated with the active growth of the organism. Ultrasound screening in the group of growing rats was performed monthly, and blood flow velocity was measured at three points: proximal to the renal arteries, distal to the renal arteries, and before the bifurcation zone of the abdominal aorta. Conclusions: The obtained data can be used as normative values in in vivo small-diameter tissue-engineered vascular graft (TEVG) studies to assess changes in hemodynamics.

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