2.3. Echocardiographic assessment
Echocardiography was performed with a Vevo2100 imaging system (Visual Sonics, Canada) and a 21-MHz probe. Rats were anesthetized with 3% isoflurane. The pulmonary artery acceleration time (PAT), pulmonary artery ejection time (PET),pulmonary artery wall thickness (PAWT), right ventricular wall thickness (RVWT) and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) were analyzed from stable images.