【Animal Modeling】-High-fat feeding combined with common carotid artery balloon injury to make insulin resistant rabbit atherosclerosis model

  Objective: To explore the method of establishing a fast, stable and reliable rabbit atherosclerosis (AS) model.

   Method: Use high-fat diet and intimal balloon injury to establish a rabbit AS model. Twenty healthy male New Zealand white rabbits weighing 2.0-2.5 kg were selected and fed a high-fat diet after the common carotid artery intimal balloon injury. Blood was drawn from the ears before and after 12 weeks of feeding. Measured total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG), fasting blood glucose (FBG) and fasting insulin (FSI) , Insulin Sensitivity Index (ISI)) and Homeostasis Model-Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR); observe the morphological characteristics of the common carotid artery intima with the naked eye and under an optical microscope.

  Result: After 12 weeks of high-fat diet, body weight, TC, TG and LDLC were significantly higher than before eating (P\u003c0.01). There was no significant change in FBG (P = 0.550), FSI and HOMA-IR before high-eating were significantly higher than before eating, and HDL-C and ISI were significantly lower than before eating (P\u003c0.01). The inner lining of the carotid artery is obviously thickened under an optical microscope, with obvious atherosclerotic plaque and fibrous capsule structure.

   Conclusion: High-fat diet can cause rabbit insulin resistance, accompanied by arterial balloon injury, and a rabbit AS model can be established in a short time.