Objective To explore a new method to establish a rabbit model of carotid atherosclerosis by puncture through the central ear artery, using balloon injured common carotid artery intima and high-fat diet.
Methods The rabbits were prefed with high-fat diet for 4 weeks, then punctured through the central ear artery of the rabbits, injured the intima of the right common carotid artery with balloon, and then fed with high-fat diet for 8 weeks. The pathological changes of common carotid artery in rabbits were observed by MRI and histopathology.
Results The success rate of establishing rabbit carotid atherosclerosis animal model was 85%. On the magnetic resonance image, the common carotid artery wall in the experimental group was thickened and significantly strengthened, and the signal intensity and signal-to-noise ratio of atherosclerotic plaque in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the self control group. In the experimental group, the intima of the common carotid artery wall showed pathological manifestations of atherosclerotic plaque, while the intima of the common carotid artery wall of the self control rabbits was normal.
Conclusion The rabbit carotid atherosclerotic plaque model was successfully established by the method of balloon injury of the common carotid artery intima and high-fat diet feeding through the central ear artery puncture approach. This method has the advantages of less trauma, simple operation, strong repeatability, short modeling time and high modeling rate. The balloon injury of common carotid artery intima adopts the original approach of rabbit ear central artery puncture, which opens up a new idea for constructing rabbit carotid atherosclerotic plaque model.