Animal Models in the Research of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Development

Abstract

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a prevalent and potentially life threatening disease. Many animal models have been developed to simulate the natural history of the disease or test preclinical endovascular devices and surgical procedures. The aim of this review is to describe different methods of AAA induction in animal models and report on the effectiveness of the methods described in inducing an analogue of a human AAA. The PubMed database was searched for publications with titles containing the following terms "animal" or ''animal model(s)'' and keywords "research", "aneurysm(s)'', "aorta", "pancreatic elastase'', "Angiotensin", "AngII" "calcium chloride" or "CaCl2". Starting date for this search was set to 2004, since previously bibliography was already covered by the review of Daugherty and Cassis (2004).We focused on animal studies that reported a model of aneurysm development and progression. A number of different approaches of AAA induction in animal models has been developed, used and combined since the first report in the 1960's. Although specific methods are successful in AAA induction in animal models, it is necessary that these methods and their respective results are in line with the pathophysiology and the mechanisms involved in human AAA development. A researcher should know the advantages/disadvantages of each animal model and choose the appropriate model.

Bazedoxifene Attenuates Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Formation via Downregulation of Interleukin-6/Glycoprotein 130/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 Signaling Pathway in Apolipoprotein E–Knockout Mice

“…The limitations of our study require consideration. Several animal models of AAA have been developed in mice including injury of the aortic wall with calcium chloride or elastase (Patelis et al, 2017). Compared with other models, the AngII-infused model supports an imbalance of the renin-angiotensin system in the pathogenesis of AAA (Zhang et al, 2009).…”

“…Differences between species and individuals perhaps lead to diverse consequences. For example, unlike humans, mice often present suprarenal AAAs and their relevance remains somewhat limited by their inability to expand indefinitely with time (Patelis et al, 2017). So further experiments might be needed to evaluate the effect of BAZ in human AAA.…”

Experimental Models in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

“…Aortic dilatation in CaCI 2 model increases with time and it is caused by progressive infiltration of mast cells and T lymphocyte to adventitia layer. Vascular smooth muscle cells disappear due to calcification and fragmentation in elastic fibers and they are replaced by neutrophils [27]. Most important aneurysm formation mechanisms of CaCI 2 application are medial degeneration and leucocyte infiltration.…”

“…In some studies, it was shown that hemodynamic stress facilitates AAA predisposition and flow alterations significantly affect arterial lumen diameter. Also, poststenotic dilatation was detected at the area of oscillatory shear stress distal to the cast in some studies [27].…”

Hemodynamics and pathology of an enlarging abdominal aortic aneurysm model in rabbits

“…Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is characterized by chronic remodeling of aortic wall tissue, however, its pathogenesis remains poorly understood. [ 1 ] Animal models have been developed to mimic human AAA disease, [ 2 ] which included genetically predisposed AAA model, chemical injury AAA model, and hemodynamically-induced AAA model. Although the chemical injury AAA model has been popular used in animal studies, [ 3 – 9 ] this model does not always induce stable AAA.…”