Cardiac Function Imaging in the Axolotl Using a New Self-Gating Approach

Henrik Lauridsen¹, Asger Andersen², Michael Pedersen¹, Steffen Ringgaard¹

Tissue regenerative potential in humans and mammalian animal model is limited. As opposed to this amphibian animal models such as the Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) are champions of regeneration and are, i.a., able to regenerate both complete limbs and myocardium after infarction. To measure the functional recovery of the regenerating axolotl heart in vivo, ECG-gated cardiac MRI was not possible due to a weak ECG signal in this amphibian, hence a self-gated semiautomatic cardiac MRI technique was developed. We suggest that this method should be considered when performing cardiac MRI on small animal models and encountering difficulties with traditional ECG-gating.