Standard Echocardiography, Strain and Strain Rate by Two-Dimensional Speckle Tracking in Capuchin Monkey (Cebus Apella, Linnaeus, 1758)

Abstract

Introduction: The capuchin monkey is a type of nonhuman primate that has shown great potential for preclinical studies because of its anatomical and physiological similarities to humans. Objective: To study the indices of myocardial deformation in anesthetized capuchin monkeys using speckle tracking. Methods: Sixteen animals from the Zoobotanical Park, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil, were used and chemically restrained using a combination of ketamine and midazolam. Echocardiography recordings were obtained in B, M and Doppler modes, and strain and strain rate were measured using speckle tracking. Results: The variables that showed statistically significant correlation coefficients in relation to weight were LVFWd, LVIDd, LVIDs, E wave, A'RV, MAM and TAPSE. HR showed a positive correlation with the E wave and A wave and a negative correlation with IVRT. FS presented a positive correlation with the E/A wave relationship (r = 0.61). TAPSE showed positive correlations with E'RV and A'RV. The values obtained for circumferential (-18.17 ± 4.68%), radial (47.13 ± 5.24%) and longitudinal (-26.46 ± 5.15%) strain for the capuchin monkeys were within the normal ranges for males and females. Conclusion: The present study provides the first reference values for echocardiographic measurements in B, M and Doppler modes for capuchin monkeys anesthetized with ketamine and midazolam. The strain and strain rate values obtained using speckle tracking showed similarities with those obtained in humans, suggesting that this tool has the potential to be exploited in preclinical studies using the capuchin monkey model.