Comparison of the Effects of the Thrombin Inhibitor r-Hirudin in Four Animal Models of Neointima Formation After Arterial Injury

Four animal models of arterial injury: carotid artery balloon injury in rats, rabbits, and hypercholesterolemic minipigs, and a double-lesion model in rabbits (balloon angioplasty of a preexisting lesion induced by carotid denudation 4 weeks earlier).

Recombinant hirudin (r-hirudin) given as short-term application (1 mg/kg IV bolus immediately before injury, followed by infusion of 1 mg/kg/h for 2 hours, and an injection of 6 mg/kg SC) in all models, or prolonged treatment (IV infusion for 3 and 14 days) in rats.

Neointimal area measured by histomorphometric analysis at 2 weeks (rats) or 4 weeks (rabbits and minipigs).surrogate