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.