Establishment of Acute Myocardial Infarction Models for MRI Experiment in Rabbits

Objective To establish acute myocardial infarction models for MRI experiment in rabbits. Methods 26 rabbits served as the experimental animals; the rabbit auricular veins were punctured with trocar to establish the passage for anesthesia and drugs. A median sternotomy 2cm above the xiphoid process was performed. An anterior branch of the left coronary artery was occluded for 24hours to make an acute obstructive myocardial infarction model, and occluded for 40minutes followed by 1～2hours of reperfusion to make an acute ischemia and reperfusion model. The myocardial infarction foci were verified by TTC staining techniques. Results 17 acute myocardial infarction models were made successfully. All the models were examined by MRI with contented functional and morphology images. 9 animals were dead, and main cause was pleural injury when a thoracotomy was performed through the parasternal. Conclusion Rabbits were most suitable to make acute myocardial infarction models for MRI experiment. A median sternotomy 2cm above the xiphoid process could reduce the pleural injury and improve the success rate of models.