Accelerated atherosclerosis development in C57Bl6 mice by overexpressing AAV-mediated PCSK9 and partial carotid ligation

Studying the role of a particular gene in atherosclerosis typically requires a time-consuming and often difficult process of generating double-knockouts or transgenics on ApoE−/− or LDL receptor−/− background. Recently, it was reported that adeno-associated-virus-8 (AAV8) mediated overexpression of PCSK9 (AAV8-PCSK9) rapidly induced hyperlipidemia. However, using this method in C57BL6 wild-type (C57) mice, it took approximately 3 months to develop atherosclerosis. Our partial carotid ligation model is used to rapidly develop atherosclerosis by inducing disturbed flow in the left common carotid artery within 2 weeks in ApoE−/− or LDLR−/− mice. Here, we combined these two approaches to develop an accelerated model of atherosclerosis in C57 mice. C57 mice were injected with AAV9-PCSK9 or AAV9-Luciferase (control) and high-fat diet was initiated. A week later, partial ligation was performed. Compared to the control, AAV-PCSK9 led to elevated serum PCSK9, hypercholesterolemia, and rapid atherosclerosis development within 3 weeks as determined by gross plaque imaging, and staining with Oil-Red-O, Movat’s pentachrome and CD45 antibody. These plaque lesions were comparable to the atherosclerotic lesions that have been previously observed in ApoE−/− or LDLR−/− mice that were subjected to partial carotid ligation and high-fat diet. Next, we tested whether our method can be utilized to rapidly determine the role of a particular gene in atherosclerosis. Using eNOS−/− and NOX1−/y mice on C57 background, we found that the eNOS−/− mice developed more advanced lesions, while the NOX1−/y mice developed less atherosclerotic lesions as compared to the C57 controls. These results are consistent with the previous findings using double knockouts (eNOS−/−_ApoE−/− and NOX1−/y_ApoE−/−). AAV9-PCSK9 injection followed by partial carotid ligation is an effective and time-saving approach to rapidly induce atherosclerosis. This accelerated model is well-suited to quickly determine the role of gene(s) interest without generating double- or triple-knockouts.