A porcine model of ischemic heart failure produced by chronic placement of a tube in a coronary artery

Background and Aims: Animal models of heart failure (HF) are useful to clarify the mechanism and to develop therapeutic interventions. To produce an easy ischemic HF model, we induced myocardial infarction (MI) in pigs by placing a tube in the coronary artery. Methods: Twelve pigs underwent echocardiography and were randomly allocated to the myocardial infarction group (MI group) and the control group. In the MI pigs, a 4.2 F nylon tube was placed via the carotid artery in the left circumflex coronary (LCx) artery to induce MI. Three months thereafter, thoracotomy was performed in the both groups and left ventricular (LV) pressure–volume relation was evaluated. Results: Body weight, LV dimension and function did not differ in the baseline state between the two groups. Three months after the tube placement, LV diameter was larger (47±3 vs. 42±2 mm) and its fractional shortening was lower in the MI group than the control group. In addition, aortic flow was decreased, LV ejection fraction was decreased (25±5 vs. 52±6%) and LV diastolic pressure was elevated (14±3 vs. 8±2 mmHg) in the MI group compared with the control group. The extent of MI was 26±5% of the LV in the MI pigs. Conclusion: The method of placing a tube in the coronary artery does not need thoracotomy or an additional procedure and enables the production of an ischemic HF model of pigs.