Doxorubicin Cardiotoxicity in the Rat Detected with Cardiac Function MRI and Late Gadolinium Enhancement

Neil Woodhouse¹, Howard Mellor², Jose Ulloa¹, Guy Healing², Jason Kirk², Paul Hockings³

Doxorubicin induced cardiotoxicity was examined in two groups of male Han-Wistar rats (n = 6/group), Vehicle (0.9 % saline) and Dox (doxorubicin 1.25 mg/kg) using a retrospectively gated IntraGate FLASH multi-slice cine sequence at 4.7T. Gadopentetate was administered as an intravenous bolus to three rats per group. Significant differences in end systolic volume, stroke volume, ejection fraction, and fractional shortening were demonstrated between the Vehicle and Dox groups. There were statistically significant (p=0.001) differences in late gadolinium enhancement after gadopentetate infusion.