The Rabbit Model of Accelerated Atherosclerosis: A Methodological Perspective of the Iliac Artery Balloon Injury

Summary

Animal models of atherosclerosis are essential to understand the mechanism and to investigate newer approaches to prevent plaque development or rupture, a leading cause of death in the industrialized world. This protocol uses a combination of balloon injury and cholesterol rich diet to induce atherosclerotic plaques in rabbit iliac artery.

Abstract

Acute coronary syndrome resulting from coronary occlusion following atherosclerotic plaque development and rupture is the leading cause of death in the industrialized world. New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits are widely used as an animal model for the study of atherosclerosis. They develop spontaneous lesions when fed with atherogenic diet; however, this requires long time of 4 - 8 months. To further enhance and accelerate atherogenesis, a combination of atherogenic diet and mechanical endothelial injury is often employed. The presented procedure for inducing atherosclerotic plaques in rabbits uses a balloon catheter to disrupt the endothelium in the left iliac artery of NZW rabbits fed with atherogenic diet. Such mechanical damage caused by the balloon catheter induces a chain of inflammatory reactions initiating neointimal lipid accumulation in a time dependent fashion. Atherosclerotic plaque following balloon injury show neointimal thickening with extensive lipid infiltration, high smooth muscle cell content and presence of macrophage derived foam cells. This technique is simple, reproducible and produces plaque of controlled length within the iliac artery. The whole procedure is completed within 20 - 30 min. The procedure is safe with low mortality and also offers high success in obtaining substantial intimal lesions. The procedure of balloon catheter induced arterial injury results in atherosclerosis within two weeks. This model can be used for investigating the disease pathology, diagnostic imaging and to evaluate new therapeutic strategies.

Introduction

Rupture of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques is one of the leading causes of death in the industrialized nations¹. Although research over the past decades has unfolded several molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in plaque progression, continued efforts are still needed not only to unravel the complex mechanism of disease progression but also to test new therapeutic approaches. Several animal models have been proposed to study the atherosclerosis. Genetic manipulation, cholesterol feeding or mechanical endothelium injury are the standard strategies shared by most animal models of atherosclerosis including mice, rabbits or minipigs. Among....

Protocol

This experimental protocol has been approved by the Cantonal Veterinary Office, Fribourg and the Swiss Federal Veterinary Office, Switzerland (FR 2015/58).

NOTE: Male NZW rabbits weighing between 2.8 to 3.2 kg were used. The animals were housed under conventional conditions (12 h light and dark cycle, provided ad libitum water and food). Prior to balloon denudation, animals were acclimated for 1 week during which they were fed with normal chow diet. After 1 week of acclimatization, rabbits were switched to atherogenic diet consisting of high fat (8.6%), and saturated fatty acids with 205 mg/kg cholesterol (1%) diet for the whole study durat....

Results

Balloon injury of the iliac artery was performed successfully without complication (Figure 1). The total operative time ranged from 20 to 30 min for injuries performed on only one iliac artery, and 35 to 45 min for injuries on both arteries. The rabbit recovered within 1 h after balloon injury. All animals appeared healthy without significant weight loss. No infection, oedema or arterial thrombosis was encountered. The wound area was normal besides some mild .......

Discussion

The rabbit iliac artery atherosclerosis model is widely used in atherosclerosis research. With this protocol the rabbits rapidly developed more severe and advanced plaques as compared to spontaneous lesions developed with only cholesterol diet. Importantly, animals recover quickly from the surgery.

The main stimulus for atherogenesis is the mechanical damage caused by the balloon catheter that injures the endothelium and distends the vessel wall²⁶. This procedure induce.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
New Zealand White rabbits	Charles River laboratories,France	Cre:KBL(NZW)
Cholesterol rich diet	Ssniff spezialdiäten	Ssniff EF K High Fat and Cholesterol
Glass bead sterilizer-Germinator 500	VWR, Leicestershire, UK	101326-488
Fogarty balloon embolectomy catheters, 2 French	Edwards Lifesciences, Switzerland	120602F	For single use only
Luer Lock Syringe	Becton, Dickinson and Company, USA	309628
Thermopad Type 226	Solis, Switzerland AG	397387
Buprenorphine- Temgesic	Reckitt Benckiser AG, Switzerland	7.68042E+12
Isoflurane	Piramal Critical Care, Inc, Bethlehem, PA 18017	2667-46-7
Anaesthesia machine-combi-vet Base Anesthesia System	Rothacher Medical GmbH, Switzerland	CV 30-301-A
Cardell touch veterinary vital signs monitor	Midmark, Ohio, USA	8013-001
Ophthalmic ointment-Humigel	Virbac, France
Animal hair clippers	Aesculap AG, Germany	GT420
Disinfectant-Betadine solution	MundipharmaMedicalCompany, Switzerland	14671-1203
Dumont #7 Forceps	FST Germany	11274-20
Medium and small microscissors	Medline International Switzerland Sàrl	UC4337
Microvascular clamps	FST, Germany	18051-28
Papaverine	ESCA chemicals, Switzerland	RE 356 803
Vein Pick	Harvard Apparatus, Cambridge, UK	72-4169	For single use only
Saline	Laboratorium Dr. G. Bichsel AG, , Switzerland	1330055
Polysorb 5-0 suture	Covidien AG, Switzerland	UL 202	Monofilament
Sulfadoxine and Trimethoprim-Trimethazol	Werner Stricker AG, Switzerland	Swissmedic Nr. 50'361
Antiseptic- Octenisept	Schülke & Mayr AG, Switzerland	GTIN: 4032651214068
Phosphate Buffered Saline	Roth	1058.1
Isobutanol-2-Methylbutane	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	M32631-1L
Optimum Cutting Temperature compound-Tissue-Tek	VWR Chemicals, Belgium	25608-930
Cryostat	Leica, Glattbrugg, Switzerland	Leica CM1860 UV
Glass slide- Superfrost Plus	Thermo Scientific	4951PLUS4
Mayer's Haematoxylin	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	MHS32-1L
Eosin 0.5% aq.	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	HT110232-1L
Oil Red O	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	O0625-25G
α-smooth muscle actin antibody	Abcam, UK.	ab7817
Macrophage Clone RAM11 antibody	DAKO, Switzerland	M063301
Hoechst	Abcam, UK.	ab145596
Goat polyclonal Secondary Antibody (Chromeo 546)	Abcam, UK.	ab60316
Alexa Fluor 488/547	Abcam, UK.
Glycergel Mounting Medium, Aqueous	DAKO, Switzerland	C056330
Hematoxylin for Movat pentachrome staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	H3136-25G
Ferric chloride for Movat pentachrome staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	157740-100G
Iodine for Movat staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	207772-100G
Potassium iodide for Movat pentachrome staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	60400-100G-F
Alcian blue for Movat staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	A5268-10G
Strong Ammonia for Movat pentachrome staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	320145-500ML
Brilliant crocein MOO for Movat pentachrome staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	210757-50G
Acid Fuchsin for Movat pentachrome staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	F8129-50G
Sodium Thiosulfate for Movat pentachrome staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	72049-250G
Phosphotungstic acid for Movat pentachrome staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	79690-100G
Crocin for Movat pentachrome staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	17304-5G
EUKITT for Movat pentachrome staining	Sigma-Aldrich, Switzerland	03989-100ML