Abstract
BackgroundThis study was designed to establish a chronic myocardial infarction (MI) model in minipigs with a novel coronary sequential balloons-sponge embolism technique.MethodsEighteen healthy minipigs (25–30 kg) were randomly divided into three groups for left anterior descending artery (LAD) occlusion: conventional balloon occlusion group (BO group, temporary balloon occlusion for 60 mins), half-balloon embolism group (HB group), and sequential balloon-balloon-sponge embolism group (BBS group, two half-balloons with one sponge as the embolism clot). The incidence of ventricular fibrillation (VF), total mortality, operating time, and vascular recanalization 3 months post-MI was recorded and compared. Echocardiography, multimodality nuclear medical imaging, and histology staining were applied for the evaluation of infarction.ResultsThirteen out of 18 minipigs survived after the operation, while 5 animals died with VF (3 in the BO group, 1 in the HB group, and 1 in the BBS group), with an 83.3 % (5/6 minipigs) acute procedural survival rate in embolism groups. The operating duration was 60.0 ± 0.5 mins, 21.4 ± 5.2 mins, and 31.2 ± 4.7 mins in the three groups, respectively. LAD recanalization was found in three animals of the HB group but none in the BBS group by angiography follow-up. The infarct sizes were more stable and larger in the HB group and BBS group than that in the BO group (P < 0.05, n = 13).ConclusionsThe method of sequential balloons-sponge embolization could induce myocardial infarction with consistent and sustained embolization and gain higher operation success rate and better repeatability in minipigs, which holds a promising method for preclinical MI study.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13550-016-0214-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
This study was designed to establish a chronic myocardial infarction (MI) model in minipigs with a novel coronary sequential balloons-sponge embolism technique
Viability and myocardial infarction reproducibility Eighteen minipigs all underwent the procedures, while 5 animals died as a result of intractable ventricular fibrillation (VF) (3 animals of the BO group, 1 in the HB group, and 1 in the BBS group) with an 83.3 % (5/6 pigs) acute procedural survival rate in the HB group and the BBS group
Incidence of VF and total mortality in the HB group and BBS group was markedly reduced as compared with the BO group (P < 0.05, n = 18)
Summary
This study was designed to establish a chronic myocardial infarction (MI) model in minipigs with a novel coronary sequential balloons-sponge embolism technique. Some issues and potential pitfalls should be recognized such as high incidence rate of malignant ventricular arrhythmias, less induced infarct size, longer operation time (generally required 5–6 h), and larger trauma. In this operation course, the blood flow interrupts completely and suddenly, resulting in a high incidence rate of malignant ventricular arrhythmias and mortality [9, 10]. These methods still need further optimization, due to limitations in high cost (spring coil) [12], difficulty in pinpointing embolism levels (micro-catheter injection of ethanol, micro-spheres embolization) [13,14,15,16], poor operational feasibility (sponge is hard to push) [17], and postoperative vascular recanalization (autologous blood clots, winding stent, spring coil) [18,19,20]
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