Inducing Myointimal Hyperplasia Versus Atherosclerosis in Mice: An Introduction of Two Valid Models

Abstract

Various in vivo laboratory rodent models for the induction of artery stenosis have been established to mimic diseases that include arterial plaque formation and stenosis, as observed for example in ischemic heart disease. Two highly reproducible mouse models -both resulting in artery stenosis but each underlying a different pathway of development -are introduced here. The models represent the two most common causes of artery stenosis; namely one mouse model for each myointimal hyperplasia, and atherosclerosis are shown. To induce myointimal hyperplasia, a balloon catheter injury of the abdominal aorta is performed. For the development of atherosclerotic plaque, the ApoE -/-mouse model in combination with western fatty diet is used. Different model-adapted options for the measurement and evaluation of the results are named and described in this manuscript. The introduction and comparison of these two models provides information for scientists to choose the appropriate artery stenosis model in accordance to the scientific question asked. Video LinkThe video component of this article can be found at

Role of Bevacizumab on Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Apolipoprotein E Deficient Mice after Traumatic Brain Injury

“…For the second set of experiments, hearts embedded in paraffin were cut to 7 µm, obtaining sections at the level of the aortic sinus. These sections were subsequently stained with hematoxylin and eosin for the quantification of the lesion area normalized by the adjacent medial area of the aorta to be checked for possible tangential section [51]. The lesion region was defined as the area between the endothelial cell layer and the internal elastic lamina.…”

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“…With respect to the surgical procedure, it is critical the two walls of the vessel are not pierced by setting the stiches, which might result in early failure of the vessel patency. We have previously described a mouse model in which we induced vessel stenosis in the abdominal aorta of mice 18 . However, this and most other models only provide very small amounts of tissue for analysis.…”

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“…A series of 5 μm sections were obtained at the level of the aortic sinus and 4 cross sections were analyzed from each mouse. Sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin for quanti cation of lesion area normalized by adjacent medial area of aorta to control for possible tangential sectioning [23,29] . The lesion area was de ned as the area between the endothelial cell layer and internal elastic lamina.…”