Abstract: AIM: To determine the efficacy and reliability of adriamycin-induced cardiomyopathy model in rabbits and to evaluate it by transthoracic echocardiography.METHODS: Twenty rabbits were given 2 mg·kg^-1of adriamycin intravenously once a week for 8 weeks (total dose, 16 mg·kg^-1) to induce the cardiomyopathy model.Other eight rabbits received 2 ml·kg^-1of normal saline once aweek for 8 weeks as control.The left ventricular dimensions, wall thickness, fractional shortening and ejection fraction were measured by transthoracic echocardiography on the 1st day as baseline and in the 12th week after treatment.2 rabbits from each group were sacrificed for histological study in the 12th week.RESULTS: Compared with the baseline conditions, the value for the left ventricular diameter of the diastole (LVEDD) and that of the systole (LVESD) increased significantly, while the value for ejection fraction (EF) and the fractional shortening (FS) decreased significantly after treated with adriamycin (P <0.05).The values for interventricular septal thickness (IVST) and left ventricular posterior wall thickness (PWT) did not differ after treatment (P>0.05).In the control group, no significant changes were found in all parameters between the 1st day and the 12th week (P>0.05).The characteristics of adriamycin cardiotoxicity in human patients such as cardiomyocytes degeneration, mitochondrial and sarcoplasmic reticular edema, numerous intracellular vacuoles were found in the driamycin-treated group in histological study. CONCLUSION: Intravenous injection of adriamycin can be used to induce a reliable rabbit model of non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy with a high success rate.Transthoracic echocardiography can be applied in monitoring the animal model's formation.

Key words: echocardiography, rabbits, adriamycin, cardiomyopathy, animal models