In vivo assessment of murine elastase-induced abdominal aortic aneurysm with high resolution magnetic resonance imaging

Objectives: There are, to date, no published non-invasive or longitudinal studies performed in mice to measure aortic diameter and wall thickness in an elastase-induced abdominal aortic aneurysm. This MRI study at 11.75 T aimed at evaluating the reliability of longitudinal in vivo aortic diameter and wall thickness measurements in this particular model.

Methods: Adult male C57BL/6 mice underwent transient elastase or heat-inactivated elastase perfusion (controls). Aortic dilatation was measured before, during and immediately after elastase perfusion, and again 14 days after, with a calibrated ocular grid. MRI was performed just before initial surgery and at day 14 before harvest using an 11.75 T MR microscopy imager.

Results: Aortic diameter was significantly greater in elastase-perfused mice compared to controls as measured by optic grid (1.150 ± 0.153 mm vs 0.939 ± 0.07 mm, P = 0.038) and according to MRI measurement of the outer diameter on spin echo images (1.203 ± 0.105 mm vs 1070 ± 0.048 mm, P = 0.0067). Aortic wall thickness was found to be significantly increased in elastase-perfused mice at day 14.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates in the mouse elastase-induced aneurysm model that characterization of aneurysm development by its inner and outer vessel diameter and vessel wall thickness can be carried out longitudinally using high resolution MRI without significant mortality.