[Functional study of the heart valve apparatus by 2-dimensional Doppler echocardiography in rats with experimental endocarditis caused by Coxsackie B3 viruses].

Eleven neonatal cotton rats were infected with Coxsackie B3 viruses, 9 animals served as controls. The course of the disease was followed for 44 to 154 days. Electro- and phonocardiography, two-dimensional Doppler echocardiography, morphological and histological studies were performed in the experiment. All the histologically examined infected rats were found to develop myocarditis, whereas 75% of the animals had valvulitis. The total number of the afflicted values was 10, out of them the mitral, tricuspid, and pulmonary trunk valves accounted for 40, 40, and 20%, respectively. Doppler echocardiography revealed organic mitral and tricuspid insufficiencies in the outcome of valvulitis induced by Coxsackie B3 viruses due to the impairment of valvular cusp.