【Animal Modeling】-Making rabbit myocardial infarction model with minimally invasive cardiac catheterization technique

  Objective: To explore the application of cardiac catheterization technique in coronary artery occlusion to establish a rabbit myocardial infarction (MI) model.

   Method: After general anesthesia, 25 rabbits were separated from the carotid artery, the carotid artery was punctured, and the 5F vascular sheath was placed and fixed. The guide catheter is delivered from the vascular sheath to the sinus bed at the bottom of the aorta. Using a micro-guide wire, the micro-catheter is sent to the center or distal end of the left anterior descending branch to inject the gelatin sponge particles. An embolic agent or coil is inserted into the left anterior descending artery along the microcatheter to block the left anterior descending artery to create an MI model. One month later, the heart was removed and a pathological examination was performed.

  Result: 25 rabbits and 19 rabbits were successfully delivered to the left anterior descending artery of the micro-guide wire and micro-catheter. There were 10 rabbits in the spring coil group, 7 rabbits were successfully produced in MI, and 2 rabbits died during breeding. Among the 9 rabbits in the gelatin sponge particle embolization treatment group, 7 successfully developed MI, and 1 rabbit died during feeding. There was no significant difference in the success rate of rabbit myocardial infarction and the area of rabbit myocardial infarction between the two groups.

   Conclusion: The rabbit MI model can be established by cardiac catheterization, and it is consistent with the pathological characteristics of clinical MI, including high success rate, stable MI characteristics and avoiding thoracotomy injuries.