Effects of anesthetics on cardiac function test in mouse model of pressure overload-induced heart failure

Abstract

Objective To compare the effects of four common anesthetics on cardiac function test in pressure overload-induced heart failure mice. Methods Eight-week-old male C57/BL6 mice (n=120) with a body weight of 20~25 g were selected to establish a mouse model of heart failure by transthoracic aortic coarctation (TAC). Mice were randomly divided into two parts. In the first part, 60 mice were randowly divided into four groups (n=15) and anesthetized with four different anesthetics (isoflurane, sodium pentobarbital, ketamine and tribromoethanol), respectively, to compare the effects of 4 different anesthetics on cardiac function evaluation in mice with heart failure. There were 9 groups in the second part. Each group had 4 mice from the first to the third group, and there were 8 mice in the rest of 3 groups. Mice were anesthetized with different concentrations of isoflurane and tribromoethane to compare the effects of different concentration gradient. Results All four anesthetics may lead to the death of mice with heart failure during the anesthesia induction stage, and the proportion of anesthetized death in mice with heart failure caused by isoflurane was significantly lower than that of the other three groups (P < 0.05). The cardiac function of the mice with heart failure was reduced, and the time of awakening from the anaesthetic was longer than that of the normal mice. Among them, isoflurane had the least effect on the heart rate of mice with heart failure, the ventricular function parameters were higher than the other groups' (P < 0.05) and the time of awakening from anesthetic was shorter than that of other groups (P < 0.05). Results showed that the lower concentration of anesthetics have less effect on cardiac EF value. And 1% isoflurane or 0.15 mL/10 g tribromoethanol had no effect on the cardiac EF value. Conclusion All four anesthetics could affect the heart rate and cardiac function evaluation of mice with heart failure, and even lead to death. Inhaled isoflurane has significantly better anesthesia effect and safety than other injectable anesthetics in anesthetizing heart failure mice.

Keywords

• heart failure
• cardiac function
• anesthetic
• anesthetic effect
• isoflurane