Progressive feline pressure-overload: noninvasive assessment correlates with abnormalities in single cells

Doppler flowmetry and serial echocardiography were used to study the development of pressure-overload in banded cat ascending aortas. These noninvasive techniques were used to observe cardiac venticular function and to develop an animal model of cellular and molecular elements in cardiac hypertrophy. The noninvasive assessment correlated with abnormalities observed in isolated myocytes. The cat model developed through the noninvasive procedure is useful in the study of cardiac hypertrophy and the transition from compensated hypertrophy to myocardial failure.