【Animal Modeling】-How to use myocardial iron overload rabbit model to study iron deposition?

  OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the method of making myocardial iron deposition animal model and the regulation of heart and liver iron deposition.

  Method: Randomly select 40 male New Zealand white rabbits and divide them into an experimental group consisting of 32 rabbits and a control group consisting of 8 rabbits. White rabbits in the experimental group were injected subcutaneously with iron dextran 200 mg/kg every Monday, and 2 white rabbits were randomly sacrificed every Sunday. The control group was injected with 1 white rabbit every Sunday for one week. interval. Take out the heart and liver tissue for use, rinse it repeatedly with normal saline until there is no residual blood in the heart and liver tissue, and place it in an electric heating constant temperature air drying box (temperature 65°C) to dry. There is no change in weight. After drying, the heart and liver tissues were measured with a frame atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and the iron concentration of the heart and liver (CIC, LIC) was determined. Part of the heart and liver tissues were fixed, HE stained, and Prussia stained blue.

  Results: As the amount of iron injection increased, the pathological results showed that the number of iron particles stained with Prussian blue in the myocardium of the experimental group increased, and the CIC gradually increased (range 0.20~2.34) mg/g dry weight, with a median of 1.24 mg/g dry weight ). There was a moderate correlation between CIC and total iron injection (r = 0.698, P\u003c 0.05, P\u003c 0.001), and a moderate correlation between CIC and serum iron (r = 0.415). , P\u003c 0.05, P = 0.022). There is a high correlation between CIC and LIC (r=0.712, Pu003c0.05, Pu003c0.001).

  Conclusion: Subcutaneous injection of 200 mg/kg iron dextran can establish a rabbit myocardial iron overload model, and there is no correlation with heart and liver iron deposition.