Heart dysfunction and fibrosis in rat treated with myocardial ischemia and reperfusion

Because cardiovascular disease remains a serious problem in modern human society, the aim of this study was to establish the rat model animal and to compare the heart dysfunction and fibrosis with SD and LE rats when treated with myocardial ischemia and reperfusion operation. A 20-minute thoracotomy was performed on the rat at the left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion; then the perfusion was carried out. The left ventricular diastolic diameter and left ventricular systolic diameter (LVEDd and LVEDs) were both reduced in LE and SD rats after surgery. Compared with the sham group, the performance of the left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS) significantly decreased, indicating systolic dysfunction was affected after surgery, and SD was significantly higher than LE at LVFS decreasing rate. The significant areas of collagen fibers were detected by Masson's tri-chrome staining after surgery. These results suggest that SD rat is more suitable than LE rat for successful establishment of the model of myocardial ischemia and reperfusion. Also, the rat model can provide good experimental materials for regenerative medicine and drug testing to enhance research results in the future. Key words : Myocardial infarction, myocardial ischemia and reperfusion, animal model.