An optimized murine model of ferric chloride-induced arterial thrombosis for thrombosis research

Animal models are important tools in thrombosis research and preclinical drug development. Ferric chloride has been widely used to induce arterial thrombosis in a variety of species. However, almost all previous reports applied a very high concentration of ferric chloride (10-60%) to induce thrombus formation leading to difficulties in evaluating the efficacy of antithrombotic agents. Thus, the purpose of this study was to refine the ferric-chloride-induced thrombosis model to be better suited for thrombosis research.

Dose-dependent study was used to identify a threshold concentration of ferric chloride sufficient for consistent occlusion (as reflected by the Doppler blood flow) of the carotid artery in C57BL/6 mice. Ferric chloride concentration at or about a threshold of 2.5% was found to be sensitive to anticoagulant (e.g., heparin) and antiplatelet (e.g., clopidogrel) agents. In contrast, the vessel rapidly occluded at or above 5% ferric chloride concentration despite pretreatment with the antithrombotic agents, even at doses that exerted maximal prolongation of tail bleeding time.

Our study provides a simple, sensitive and highly controlled method for limiting vessel injury in mice to better detect the efficacy of antithrombotic drugs and/or evaluate therapeutic targets.