Effects of a novel ultrasound contrast agent with long persistence on right ventricular pressure: Comparison with SonoVue

This work investigated the effect of infusion of a self-made ultrasound contrast agent with long persistence (named ZHIFUXIAN) on rat right ventricular pressure and made a preliminary evaluation on the relative safety of the novel microbubbles. Normal saline, SonoVue and ZHIFUXIAN were injected through caudal vein at the total volume of 0.5 ml for each injection. The right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) and end-diastolic pressure (RVEDP) were monitored and the changes of the pressure were compared with baseline readings. RVSP increased when saline, SonoVue or ZHIFUXIAN were injected, the greatest change being after SonoVue (about 2 mm Hg), but there was no statistical significance compared with baseline (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in RVSP between saline, SonoVue and ZHIFUXIAN at any time point. Also, there was no significant difference in RVEDP between groups at each time point and between different time points in each group. The results indicate that the self-made microbubbles effect on right ventricular hemodynamics is equivalent to that of normal saline at the same volume needed for effective enhanced imaging, demonstrating that it does not produce changes in right ventricular blood pressure under the study conditions. Pathological examination also showed it had no obvious influence on lung, liver and kidney.