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Updated: May 19, 2026
Implantation of a Carotid Cuff for Triggering Shear-stress Induced Atherosclerosis in Mice
Published on: January 13, 2012
Endogenous renovascular hypertension combined with low shear stress induces plaque rupture in apolipoprotein
Shu-xuan Jin1, Ling-hong Shen, Peng Nie
1Department of Cardiology, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Objective:
The development of a murine model of spontaneous atherosclerotic plaque rupture with luminal thrombus.
Methods And Results:
Combined partial ligation of the left renal artery and left common carotid artery in 8-week-old apolipoprotein E-deficient mice induced endogenous renovascular hypertension and local low oscillatory shear stress in the left common carotid artery. After 8 weeks, a fresh left common carotid artery lumen thrombus associated with severe plaque burden was found in 50% (10/20) of the mice. Histological analyses indicated that all left common carotid artery lesions had vulnerable features, and 50% (5/10) of the mice showed plaque rupture with a lumen thrombus. Multiple layers with layering discontinuity and intraplaque hemorrhages were found in 80% (8/10) of the mice. Further experiments showed that both increased blood pressure, and angiotensin-II contributed to plaque progression and vulnerability. Decreased intimal collagen associated with increased collagenase activity and matrix metalloproteinase expression also resulted in plaque disruption.
Conclusions:
We demonstrate a murine model of spontaneous plaque rupture with a high incidence of luminal thrombus. The model not only nicely recapitulates the pathophysiological processes of human plaque rupture but it is also simple, fast, and highly efficient to generate.
