Meeting Banner
Abstract #3566

Longitudinal Functional and Structural Characterization of Inducible Heart Specific SOD2 Knock-Out Mice by Cardiac MRI

Thomas Kaulisch1, Heiko G. Niessen1, David Kind1, Michael Neumaier1, Julia Tillmanns1, Lothar Kussmaul2, Simon Melov3, Detlef Stiller1

1In-Vivo Imaging Unit, Dept. of Drug Discovery Support, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Biberach, BW, Germany; 2Dept. of CNS Diseases Research, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Biberach, BW, Germany; 3Buck Institute for Age Research, Novato, CA, United States


Oxidative stress induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays an important role in heart diseases. Because fatty acid oxidation is carried out in the mitochondria, their dysfunction will have a severe impact on cardiac function. Because ROS are usually reduced by SOD2, a new mouse model (Fsod2H) with inducible knock-down of SOD2 gene was generated. In-vivo imaging was performed from week 32 to 57 of animal age. A significant reduction of heart contractibility and an increase in heart volume were measured for tgSOD2 mice. Overall, MRI allows for longitudinal quantitative assessment of functional and structural changes in the mouse heart.