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Considerations for choosing an optimal animal model of cardiovascular disease
Mihir Parikh1,2, Grant N Pierce1,2
1Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Insights
Choosing the right animal model for cardiovascular disease research is crucial. This review details various models, their pros and cons, aiding scientists in selecting the best fit for atherosclerosis, hypertension, and other complex conditions.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Research
- Animal Models
- Translational Medicine
Background:
- Clinical cardiovascular disease is complex, encompassing atherosclerosis, hypertension, ischemia/reperfusion injury, myocardial infarcts, and cardiomyopathies.
- Simultaneous presence of multiple cardiovascular lesions and comorbidities like diabetes and obesity complicates disease modeling.
- Selecting an optimal animal model that accurately represents diverse clinical cardiovascular disease characteristics is challenging for researchers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review available animal models for cardiovascular disease.
- To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each model.
- To provide researchers with recent data for informed model selection.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on animal models of cardiovascular disease.
- Analysis of characteristics, generation methods, and specific lesions of various models.
- Specific focus on the JCR:LA-cp rat as a cardiovascular disease model.
Main Results:
- Detailed overview of different animal species and methods used to create cardiovascular disease models.
- Evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of each model in mimicking human conditions.
- Discussion of the JCR:LA-cp rat's utility in cardiovascular research.
Conclusions:
- Informed selection of animal models is critical for successful cardiovascular disease research.
- Understanding model limitations and advantages is key to accurate study design.
- The JCR:LA-cp rat is highlighted as a valuable model for specific cardiovascular research applications.
Abstract:
The decision to use the optimal animal model to mimic the various types of cardiovascular disease is a critical one for a basic scientist. Clinical cardiovascular disease can be complex and presents itself as atherosclerosis, hypertension, ischemia/reperfusion injury, myocardial infarcts, and cardiomyopathies, amongst others. This may be further complicated by the simultaneous presence of two or more cardiovascular lesions (for example, atherosclerosis and hypertension) and co-morbidities (i.e., diabetes, infectious disease, obesity, etc). This variety and merging of disease states creates an unusually difficult situation for the researcher who needs to identify the optimal animal model that is available to best represent all of the characteristics of the clinical cardiovascular disease. The present manuscript reviews the characteristics of the various animal models of cardiovascular disease available today, their advantages and disadvantages, with the goal to allow the reader access to the most recent data available for optimal choices prior to the initiation of the study. The animal species that can be chosen, the methods of generating these models of cardiovascular disease, as well as the specific cardiovascular lesions involved in each of these models are reviewed. A particular focus on the JCR:LA-cp rat as a model of cardiovascular disease is discussed.
