The Structure-function remodeling in rabbit hearts of myocardial infarction

Abstract

Animal models are of importance to investigate basic mechanisms for ischemic heart failure (HF). The objective of the study was to create a rabbit model through multiple coronary artery ligations to investigate the postoperative structure‐function remodeling of the left ventricle (LV) and coronary arterial trees. Here, we hypothesize that the interplay of the degenerated coronary vasculature and increased ventricle wall stress relevant to cardiac fibrosis in vicinity of myocardial infarction (MI) precipitates the incidence and progression of ischemic HF. Echocardiographic measurements showed an approximately monotonic drop of fractional shortening and ejection fraction from 40% and 73% down to 28% and 58% as well as persistent enlargement of LV cavity and slight mitral regurgitation at postoperative 12 weeks. Micro‐CT and histological measurements showed that coronary vascular rarefaction and cardiac fibrosis relevant to inflammation occurred concurrently in vicinity of MI at postoperative 12 weeks albeit there was compensatory vascular growth at postoperative 6 weeks. These findings validate the proposed rabbit model and prove the hypothesis. The post‐MI rabbit model can serve as a reference to test various drugs for treatment of ischemic HF.

Speckle tracking echocardiography could detect the difference of pressure overload-induced myocardial remodelling between young and adult rats

“…ECG measurements of rat hearts, as shown in figure 1b, were carried out in the four groups for 3, 9 and 12 weeks post-operatively. M-mode measurements of the left ventricle, left atrium, and aorta and B-mode measurements of strain and strain rate were recorded in rats, similar to a previous study [30].…”

Practical guidelines for rigor and reproducibility in preclinical and clinical studies on cardioprotection

“…The LAD is small in rabbits and the apex of the heart is supplied by a prominent coronary branch labeled as the circumflex in Ref. [ 444 ], and this is the recommended ligation site. This branch can clearly be seen on the LV’s surface anterior to the intraventricular grove where the residual LAD resides, and the branch’s occlusion will render about a third of the ventricle ischemic.…”

Short-Term Inhalation of Ultrafine Zinc Particles Could Alleviate Cardiac Dysfunctions in Rats of Myocardial Infarction

“…These plugs were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA)/PBS solution overnight at room temperature and then processed for paraffin sectioning. Masson's trichrome staining was carried out for determination of myocardial fibrosis according to standard procedures (Puente et al, 2014;Deng et al, 2016) while haematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was performed to observe the arrangement and morphology of cardiomyocytes (Wu et al, 2017).…”