Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 23, 2026
A Surgical Model of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction in Tibetan Minipigs
Published on: February 18, 2022
Extracorporeal shock wave treatment attenuated left ventricular dysfunction and remodeling in mini-pig with
Jiunn-Jye Sheu1, Hani E E Ali1, Ben-Chung Cheng2
1Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Abstract:
This study tested the hypothesis that extracorporeal shock wave (ECSW) treatment can improve ischemia-induced left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in mini-pig with co-existing chronic kidney disease (CKD). LV ischemia in mini-pigs was induced by applying an ameroid constrictor over mid-left anterior descending artery (LAD), while model of CKD was established by right nephrectomy with partial ligation of left renal arterioles 2 weeks before LAD constriction. Thirty mini-pigs were randomly divided into group 1 (sham-control), group 2 (LV-ischemia), group 3 (LV-ischemia + CKD), Group 4 [LV-ischemia + ECSW (applied 1200 shots at 0.1 mJ/m2/equally to 4-ischemic regions by day-90 after LAD constriction], and group 5 (LV-ischemia-CKD + ECSW). By day-180 after CKD induction, echocardiography showed that LV ejection fraction (LVEF) was highest in group 1, lowest in group 3, significantly lower in group 2 than that in groups 4 and 5, and significantly lower in group 5 than that in group 4, whereas LV-end systolic and diastolic dimensions displayed an opposite pattern (all p<0.001). Protein expressions of oxidative-stress (NOX-1/NOX-2/oxidized protein), apoptotic (cleaved-caspase-3/cleaved-PARP/mitochondrial-Bax), fibrotic (TGF-β/Smad3), pressure/volume-overload (BNP/β-MHC), endothelial (CD31/vWF) and mitochondrial-integrity (PGC-1/mitochondrial-cytochrome-C) biomarkers exhibited a pattern identical to that of LVEF, whereas angiogenesis factors (VEGF/CXCR4/SDF-1α) showed significant progressive increase among all groups (all p<0.0001). Microscopic findings of CD31+cells/vWF+cells/small-vessel density/sarcomere-length showed an identical pattern, whereas collagen-deposition area/fibrotic area/apoptotic nuclei expressed an opposite pattern compared to that of LVEF among all groups (all p<0.0001). In conclusion, CKD aggravated ischemia-induced LV dysfunction and remodeling and molecular-cellular perturbations that were reversed by ECSW treatment.
