Development of a rabbit model for a preclinical comparison of coronary stent types in-vivo

Along with the development of innovative stent designs, preclinical trials in animal models are essential. Many animal models have been used and appear to yield comparable results to clinical trials despite substantial criticisms about their validity. Among the animal models, porcine coronary artery models have been the standard models for the preclinical evaluation of endovascular devices. However, rapid growth rate, high body weight potential, and the propensity to develop granulomatous inflammatory reactions are major limitations of the porcine coronary artery model. Compared with porcine coronary artery models, the comparative rabbit iliac artery model has the advantages of being small and easy to handle and relatively inexpensive. Furthermore, the rabbit model has been known to reliably reflect human restenosis histopathologically and have major advantages such as pairwise comparison, which makes each animal serve as its own control subject, therefore, maximizing its statistical power for comparative testing. However, despite the widespread use of this model, a systematic description of the procedure and harvest protocols has never been published. This article describes the surgical procedure, stent implantation procedure, method for tissue harvesting, and how measurements are performed. Although the results of animal models may not perfectly extrapolate to humans, the comparative rabbit iliac artery model may be a useful tool for assessing and comparing the efficacy of new coronary stents with conventional stent systems. This thorough description of the techniques required for vascular access, stent implantation, tissue preparation, and measurement, should aid investigators wishing to begin using the comparative rabbit iliac artery model.