2.3. Echocardiographic Analysis
Echocardiography (ECHO) was
performed blindly under ketamine hydrochloride and xylazine (75 and 5
mg/kg, respectively, i.p.) anesthesia in all groups immediately
after the last JWH-018 injection. After the anterior chest wall was
shaved in all animals, a transthoracic ECHO was done in a supine
position by a researcher (cardiologist, N.E.) who was blinded to the
experimental groups. Using a 10-MHz linear transducer probe (GE 10s
parallel Design Inc. Phoenix, USA) and a commercially available ECHO
system (Vivid 3; GE Healthcare, Phoenix, USA), standard two-dimensional
(2D) and M-mode long- and short-axis (at the midpapillary level)
imagines were recorded. Heart rate
(HR), left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS), left ventricular
ejection fraction (LVEF), early
diastolic filling signal (E), atrial contraction signal (A), mitral
valve E/A ratio, E wave deceleration time (EDT) were measured and
compared among the groups by N.E.