The sheep as a pre-clinical model for testing intra-aortic percutaneous mechanical circulatory support devices

Abstract

The save deployment of intra-aortic percutaneous mechanical circulatory support devices is highly dependent on the inner aortic diameter. Finding the anatomically and ethically most suitable animal model for performance testing of new pMCS devices remains challenging. For this study, an ovine model using adult ewes of a large framed breed (Swiss White Alpine Sheep) was developed to test safety, reliability, and biocompatibility of catheter-mounted mechanical support devices placed in the descending thoracic aorta. Following the drawback of fluctuating aortic diameter and device malfunction in the first four animals, the model was improved by stenting the following animals with an aortic stent. Stenting the animals with an intra-aortic over the balloon stent was found to standardize the experimental set-up and to avoid early termination of the experiment due to non-device related issues.

Assessment of Large Animal Vascular Dimensions for Intra-Aortic Device Research and Development: A Systematic Review

“…Of the 46 selected studies, 30, 15, and 1 reported swine, ovine, and bovine data, respectively. 2 , 10 – 53 In the 1 paper we found describing bovine arterial dimensions, only thoracic aorta measurements were determined to be relevant in this study. We found no study describing aortic arch branch diameters in calves and only 1 study in sheep reporting brachiocephalic trunk diameters.…”

Biomechanical effects of hemin and sildenafil treatments on the aortic wall of chronic-hypoxic lambs

“…A critical issue to be addressed in the biomedical research field is the potential translation of the results obtained from the sheep animal model to humans. Several authors ( Duchenne et al, 2019 ; Weisskopf et al, 2021 ; Banstola and Reynolds, 2022 ) have discussed the impact of the sheep model in a cardiovascular context, assessing the following advantages: (a) Similar to cardiovascular human anatomy and physiological functions; (b) adequate translation of drug therapy between pre-clinical to clinical studies; (c) similar development with human pregnancy; and (d) biomechanical and hemodynamic properties are comparable to humans. In addition, focusing the attention on studies contextualized on perinatal chronic hypoxia using the ovine animal model, Gonzaléz-Candia et al (2020) highlight the importance and benefits of this animal model, particularly on the translation to cardiopulmonary development.…”