This specialised equipment increases the cost of experiments.2-4,7 In order to reduce these costs, we evaluated the possibility of using a standard human ultrasound probe, which is commonly found in hospitals, to investigate cardiac changes in sham rats or rats with ACC-induced myocardial hypertrophy by using an extensive analysis, including echocardiography, heart and left ventricular mass, cardiomyocyte area, plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentration, and interstitial and perivascular fibrosis. Here, NPPB is linked to cardiac hypertrophy.