Near-infrared spectrometry of abdominal aortic aneurysm in the ApoE^-/- mouse

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) occur in 5-7% of people over age 60 in the United States. Early intervention in the disease process could have a significant impact on the incidence of complications and on patient survival, but identifying incipient aneurysms can be difficult. ApoE knockout mice develop AAAs following infusion of angiotensin II (AngII) by osmotic minipump into the subcutaneous space of mice at doses ranging from 500 to 1000 ng kg^-1 min^-1 for 7-28 days. These mice are used as models of AAA development. This study tested the hypothesis that near-IR spectrometry and PCR can determine AngII dose (SEE = 26 ng kg^-1 min^-1, SEP = 37 ng kg^-1 min^-1, r² = 0.99) and collagen/elastin (C/E) ratio (SEE = 0.38, SEP = 0.39, r² = 0.85) in mouse aortas.