Development and Evaluation of a Disease Large Animal Model for Preclinical Assessment of Renal Denervation Therapies

Figures

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  Figure 1. Scheme of study design.

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  Figure 2. (A,B) The arterial blood pressure catheter was placed in all swine and subcutaneously tunneled out for easy access and monitoring; (C) Silicon-based 11-deoxycorticosterone implants that were placed in all swine for the creation of the hypertension model.

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  Figure 3. Systolic (SAP) and diastolic (DAP) arterial pressures in a minipig model of 11-deoxycorticosterone (DOCA)-induced hypertension (HTN). (A) Effect of the antihypertensive medication (n = 6). (B) Effect of the denervation renal (DNR) (n = 4).

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  Figure 4. Characteristic features of a renal artery and arterial wall following radiofrequency ablation. The extent of fibrous tissue formation in the media and adventitia, the hyalinization of the media and low degree of inflammatory infiltration and complete recovery of the endothelium with lack of luminal thrombus. Animal # 1 (A–C); # 2 (D–F); # 4 (G–I). Hematoxylin-eosin.

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  Figure 5. Vascular histopathological features in a DOCA minipig model after radiofrequency catheter-based renal denervation.

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  Figure 6. The images show representative images of the immunohistochemical staining with tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). (A) Three different types of affection following radiofrequency ablation. The clear arrow shows a nerve that has not yet been ablated at that level. The solid arrow shows evidence of a proximally ablated nerve displaying low TH staining demonstrating nerve atrophy. However, the nerve labeled with an asterisk shows how because of the nerve network, heterogeneous staining is displayed around some nerves with patches of strong TH staining combined with atrophied fibers. (B) A more evident example of this fiber heterogeneity (viable nerve in dotted line).