Development of a new model for acute myocardial infarction in rabbits

The rabbit left anterior descending coronary artery is not macroscopically apparent; this often leads to failure in creation of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) model. In order to devise a simple method with good reproducibility and high success rate for use as a rabbit AMI model, a new surgical technique was developed, in which the obtuse marginal (OM) branch of the left circumflex coronary artery was coagulated with an electric knife using a left parasternal approach. Four weeks after OM branch coagulation, an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood biochemistry analysis, echocardiographic measurements and pathologic analysis were performed. The left parasternal approach provided the surgeon clear visualization of the targeted blood vessel to accurately identify the proper site to occlude. The successful development of AMI was confirmed by ST segment elevation on the ECG, by high levels of AMI-related markers in blood samples, by cardiac functional damage reflected on echocardiographic images and by changes in pathological sections. Furthermore, an acceptable success rate and low mortality were achieved. Hence, this surgical technique was suggested to be a highly reliable and reproducible method to induce AMI in rabbits for the assessment of new therapeutic interventions or regenerative approaches.