Abstract Body: Background: Mouse transverse aortic constriction (TAC) is a common technique to study heart failure. The hemodynamic severity of TAC is a main factor affecting cardiac outcomes with higher pressure gradients causing more fibrosis and heart failure findings. Yet, a past study showed most manuscripts do not report this measurement, which impedes reproducibility and literature comparisons. Mouse TAC’s translational potential increases when experiments recapitulate human disease where treatments are typically begun after patients have existing hypertrophy and different genders are included.

PURPOSE: Assess whether AHA manuscripts using mouse TAC (1) report TAC hemodynamic severity and (2) design experiments to promote translational potential by including diverse genders and/or starting interventions with existing hypertrophy.

METHODS: We searched AHA journals Circulation, Circulation Research, and JAHA for manuscripts with mouse TAC from 1/1/23-12/31/24. We identified manuscripts measuring TAC severity via echo (peak instantaneous pressure gradients), doppler carotid flow ratios, or direct pressure measurements. We assessed translational potential by searching for inclusion of males and females, and experimental interventions starting >/= 1-week post-TAC which is when hypertrophy is often present. Examples of experimental interventions include genetic manipulations or drugs. We compared journals using Fisher’s exact test with Bonferroni correction.

RESULTS: Mouse TAC was used in 47 manuscripts. Twelve manuscripts (26%) reported TAC severity measurements. JAHA reported TAC severity significantly more than Circulation (p=0.003) with a similar trend vs Circulation Research (p=0.068). For translational potential, 12 manuscripts (26%) included males and females with no differences among journals. Forty-one manuscripts had an experimental intervention with 13 (32%) performing an intervention starting >/= 1-week post-TAC. The journals did not differ for this factor.

CONCLUSION: Most manuscripts in key AHA journals do not report TAC hemodynamic severity or include important translational elements. To enhance the likelihood of human benefits, our field needs to improve the quality of TAC experiments.