Isolated hemoperfused heart model of slaughterhouse pigs

Abstract

A model of hemoperfused slaughterhouse pighearts is described providing a wide range of applications which leads to a reduction in animal experiments. The size of a pigheart, heart rate, coronary perfusion, metabolism, etc. are more comparable to conditions in patients than those in hearts of small laboratory animals. Global heart function can be assessed either by measuring stroke volume, ejection fraction, Emax etc. in the working model or by measuring intraventricular pressure with balloon catheters in the isovolumetric model. Regional cardiac function can be measured by sonomicrometry and ischemic and non-ischemic areas can be compared. Local metabolic changes are measurable as well with microdialysis. Cardiac function can be kept on any given functional level by infusion of norepinephrine in spite of the fact that functional parameters are lower without adrenergic drive in vitro than in vivo. Stable heart function can be maintained for several hours with only 500 to 1000 ml of blood because the blood is permanently regenerated by a special dialysis system. This model can be applied in many research projects dealing with reperfusion injuries, inotropic, antiarrhythmic or arrhythmogenic effects of certain drugs, immunological rejection, evaluation of imaging systems (NMR, echocardiography etc.) or cardiac assist devices.

An isolated perfused pig heart model for the development, validation and translation of novel cardiovascular magnetic resonance techniques

“…Previous work has been performed in hearts from the abattoir [10,32] or in surgically explanted hearts [33]. The pathophysiology of cardiac arrhythmias and electrical conduction of endocardial pacing were studied in coronary perfused pig hearts [33,34].…”

“…This preparation was refined by using whole blood as a perfusate and by either perfusing the coronary arteries directly or filling of the atria and chambers in a working heart mode in pigs [10-12]. …”

“…Explanted haemoperfused pig heart models have been developed to represent in situ physiological cardiac function ex vivo [10]. They have been used for various purposes including studies of cardiac physiology and comparison of different techniques of donor heart preservation [11], but have not yet been exploited for clinical CMR, most likely due to practical difficulties such as perfusion rig design within the magnetic resonance (MR) environment.…”

Hepatotoxic effects of polidocanol in a model of autologously perfused porcine livers

“…However, as modern ethical standards require reductions of laboratory animal numbers and the use of porcine organs in high numbers is very expensive, an alternative perfusion model was chosen in the present studies that uses organs from slaughterhouse pigs to reduce laboratory animal numbers. This model was developed from existing models of isolated perfused slaughterhouse porcine kidneys (Dittrich et al 2004;Fehrenberg et al 2004;Hochel et al 2003), hearts (Modersohn et al 2001) and skin (GrosseSiestrup et al 2002d), and has been previously established . Also, a valid use for assessing organ toxicity was demonstrated recently (Grosse-Siestrup et al 2002b).…”

Bench Models for Assessing the Mechanics of Mitral Valve Repair and Percutaneous Surgery

“…10,25 These models have been uniquely demonstrated to produce physiologic flow and pressure for time periods sufficient for experimental evaluations. The potential for evaluating post procedure ventricular function in these models is significant.…”