BME Master's Defense Announcement for Alyssa Richards (C. Goergen, advisor)

Everyone is invited to attend the public presentation beginning at 2:00pm.

Title: Quantification of left ventricular function with high-frequency ultrasound in a murine model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Date: 7/9/25

Time: 2:00pm

Location: MJIS 1083 (Zoom Link: https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/95932214043 Meeting ID: 959 3221 4043)

Committe Members: Dr. Craig Goergen (Chair), Dr. Steven Welc, Dr. George Wodicka

Abstract: Cardiomyopathy is the result of the cardiac phenotype of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which leads to congestive heart failure and early mortality. Cardiomyopathy remains the leading cause of death in DMD. Duchenne-associated cardiomyopathy is treated following traditional heart failure strategies due to a lack of disease-specific therapies. To further explore DMD-specific treatments of cardiomyopathy, we first employed a pharmacologic stress-induced murine model of DMD using mdx mice. We describe a simple and effective method to enhance the cardiac phenotype in a pharmacologic stress-induced mdx model using advanced 2D and 4D high-frequency ultrasound to monitor cardiac dysfunction progression in vivo. Moreover, we assessed left ventricular function in the mdx model of DMD when treated with a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor using the same 2D and 4D high-frequency ultrasound technique. Furthermore, we assessed left ventricular function in the mdx model with 2D high-resolution ultrasound when treated with a positive allosteric modulator of the SERCA pump. Overall, we implemented advanced cardiac imaging techniques to establish a model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and evaluate potential treatments in a murine model.