Longitudinal cardiac morphologic analysis of homo-βthal mice.

<p>A) Longitudinal evaluation of LV mass by echocardiography in control (open bars) and homo-βthal mice (filled bars) at ages 6, 10 and 14 months show a progressive increase of LV mass in homo-βthal mice with age. Values are means±SEM. Comparison of LV mass between homo-βthal and control mice (^*<i>p</i><0.05, and ^**<i>p</i><0.001) and within homo-βthal mouse groups at 10 vs14 months (^†<i>p</i><0.01) and at 6 vs 14 months (^{† †}<i>p</i><0.001). B) Comparison of echocardiographic measurements at ages 6, 10 and 14 months in homo-βthal (n = 23, 22, 19) and control (n = 18) mice. Cardiac parameters consist of LVDd, left ventricule diameter in diastole; LVDs, left ventricule diameter in systole; IVS, interventricular septum; PW, posterior wall. Values are means±SEM. Cardiac parameters were significantly increased in homo-βthal mice compared to same age controls (^*<i>p</i><0.05, ^**<i>p</i><0.01 and ^***<i>p</i><0.001) and within the homo-βthal group, cardiac parameters were increased at 10 and 14 months vs 6 months (^†<i>p</i><0.05 and ^††<i>p</i><0.01). C) Relative wall thickness of homo-βthal (filled bars) relative to control (open bars) mice was consistently diminished at the different analyzed ages 6, 10 and 14 months (^*<i>p</i><0.05 ^**<i>p</i><0.01).