Spontaneous Heart Failure in BALB/c Mice

The hearts of BALB/c mice are known to acquire pronounced greyish white spots (cardiac white spots) . BALB/c male mice were examined for the relationship between the incidence of cardiac white spots and weekly age, and compared with DDY male mice. During the observation period of 0.4-30 weeks, cardiac white spots on the right ventricle of BALB/c mice were first detected at three weeks (6 of 20 mice; 30%), and the maximal incidence of cardiac white spots was obtained at nine weeks (39 of 44 mice; 88%) . In contrast, DDY mice were completely devoid of cardiac spots. Histopathologically, the cardiac spots were dystrophic calcinosis. There were significant increases in the relative organ weights of the heart and kidney of BALB/c mice compared with those of DDY mice. However, there was no significant difference between BALB/c and DDY mice in serum calcium concentration or histological characteristics of the parathyroid gland or bone marrow. The cardiac white spots of BALB/c mice were considered to be controlled by genetic susceptibility that occurred spontaneously with aging. The results described here suggest that BALB/c mice are adequate experimental animals for the study of myocardial disease that occurs spontaneously.