Proximal to Middle Left Coronary Artery Flow Velocity Ratio, As Assessed Using Color Doppler Echocardiography, Predicts Coronary Artery Atherosclerosis in Mice

Three groups of apolipoprotein E/low-density lipoprotein receptor double-knockout (apoE/LDLr dko) mice at 10, 40, and 80 weeks of age, and 3 additional age-matched groups of C57BL/6 mice.

Assessment of proximal to middle left coronary artery (LCA) velocity ratio using color Doppler echocardiography (CDE) and 40-MHz ultrasound biomicroscope (UBM).

Age-matched C57BL/6 mice and histological assessment.

Correlation of CDE-assessed flow velocity ratio (Vprox/Vmid) to percentage wall thickness assessed by UBM and histology.surrogate