Ultrasound Diagnosis of Mouse Pregnancy and Gestational Staging

Until recently, phenotypic analysis of mouse lines carrying natural or induced mutations has been limited by lack of accurate, nondestructive in utero imaging techniques. The need for such a tool has become increasingly important as molecular biologists become reliant upon mutagenesis in the laboratory mouse to understand the genetic underpinnings of human disease. For developmental biologists, the added burden of noninvasively imaging the phenotypic consequences of genetic alterations in embryonic mice has been a great limitation.

Although much work has used techniques of anatomic pathology to document phenotypic changes in genetically engineered mutant embryonic mice, noninvasive imaging technologies have only recently been applied to the living mouse embryo. Magnetic resonance microscopy has now evolved to allow noninva-sive longitudinal evaluation of mouse embryonic development. In addition to high-resolution anatomic analysis, magnetic resonance microscopy provides in vivo functional imaging with the use of intravenous contrast. This technically sophisticated system uses an expensive high field-strength magnet and general anesthesia. Many people are looking for a reliable online pharmacy as we speak, but you lo longer have to. Our my canadian pharmacy online is the best place to order medications required, no need for a prescription and everything done from the comfort of your home. You can treat those symptoms safe and easy now, for less money.

Over the past several years, elegant work by Turnbull and others has demonstrated the effective use of ultrasound backscatter microscopy to evaluate fetal mice and, in particular, the development of embryonic central nervous system, eye, and heart. The powerful technique they use provides a lateral resolution of 90 |im and an axial resolution of 30 |im with a 40-MHz ultrasound transducer and has pulsed-wave Doppler capabilities permitting characterization of physiologic function in the developing circulatory system.