Preclinical Ultrasonography in Rodent Models of Neuromuscular Disorders: The State of the Art for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications

Ultrasonography is a safe, non-invasive imaging technique used in several fields of medicine, offering the possibility to longitudinally monitor disease progression and treatment efficacy over time. This is particularly useful when a close follow-up is required, or in patients with pacemakers (not suitable for magnetic resonance imaging). By virtue of these advantages, ultrasonography is commonly used to detect multiple skeletal muscle structural and functional parameters in sports medicine, as well as in neuromuscular disorders, e.g., myotonic dystrophy and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The recent development of high-resolution ultrasound devices allowed the use of this technique in preclinical settings, particularly for echocardiographic assessments that make use of specific guidelines, currently lacking for skeletal muscle measurements. In this review, we describe the state of the art for ultrasound skeletal muscle applications in preclinical studies conducted in small rodents, aiming to provide the scientific community with necessary information to support an independent validation of these procedures for the achievement of standard protocols and reference values useful in translational research on neuromuscular disorders.