ALTERATIONS IN CAROTID PARAMETERS IN APOE-/- MICE TREATED WITH A HIGH-FAT DIET: A MICRO-ULTRASOUND ANALYSIS

Information on the common carotid artery and cerebral microcirculation can be obtained by microultrasound (mu US). The aim of the study described here was to investigate high-fat diet-induced alterations in vascular parameters in ApoE-/- mice. Twenty-two ApoE-/- male mice were examined by mu US and divided into the standard diet (ApoE-/-(SD)) and high-fat diet (ApoE-/-(HF) ) groups. The mu US examination was repeated after 4 mo (T-1). Carotid stiffness, reflection magnitude and reflection index were measured; the amplitudes of the first (W-1) and second (W-2) local maxima, the local minimum (W-b) and the reflection index (RIWIA = W-b/W-1) were assessed with wave intensity analysis. At T-1, ApoE-/-(HF) mice had increased carotid stiffness (1.48 [0.36] vs. 1.88 [0.51]) and reflection magnitude (0.89 [0.07] vs. 0.94 [0.07]) values. Longitudinal comparisons highlighted increases in carotid stiffness for ApoE-/-(HF) mice (from 1.37 [0.25] to 1.88 [0.51] m/s) but not for ApoE-/-(SD) mice (from 1.40 [0.62] to 1.48 [0.36] m/s). ApoE-/-HF( )mice exhibited carotid artery stiffening and increased wave reflections. (C) 2018 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. All rights reserved.