【Animal modeling】-Construction of myocardial iron overload rabbit model and study of iron deposition law

  Objective To investigate the method of making an animal model of myocardial iron deposition and the relationship between the iron deposition in the heart and liver.

  Methods A total of 40 male New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into the experimental group of 32 and the control group of 8. The white rabbits in the experimental group were injected subcutaneously with iron dextran 200 mg/kg every Monday; 2 white rabbits were randomly sacrificed every Sunday, and 1 white rabbit in the control group was randomly sacrificed on Sundays every 1 week; Rinse with normal saline repeatedly until the residual blood in the heart and liver tissue is drained, and place it in an electric heating constant temperature blast drying oven (temperature 65 ℃) to dry until the weight no longer changes. The heart and liver tissue after drying were measured by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer for heart and liver iron concentration (CIC, LIC), and part of the heart and liver tissue were fixed and stained with HE and Prussian blue.

  Results With the increase of iron injection, the pathological results showed that the myocardial Prussian blue-stained iron particles in the experimental group increased, and the CIC gradually increased (range 0. 20 ~ 2. 34 mg / g dry weight, median 1. 24 mg / g dry weight). There was a moderate correlation between CIC and total injected iron (r = 0.698, P < 0.05, P < 0.001), and between CIC and serum iron (r = 0.415, P < 0). .05, P = 0.022). There was a high correlation between CIC and LIC (r = 0.712, P < 0.05, P < 0.001).

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