Myocardial infarction: The model of coronary artery ligation in Balb/C mice

Background: The experimental model of myocardial infarction after coronary artery ligation in rodents has been the model of heart failure more widely used in cardiology.This model has several characteristics that must be considered during the development of experimental research.Objective: To evaluate the effects of model of heart failure in mice undergoing surgery for left coronary artery ligation on the functional and morphological measurements, comparing them to animals that underwent surgery without artery obstruction.Methods: Surgical ligation of the left coronary artery was performed in female mice isogenic Balb/C (MI + PBS group).Control animals underwent the same surgical procedures, but without coronary artery ligation (Control group).After 30 days was performed functional capacity evaluation by stress test, echocardiography and tissue collection.Results: After 30 days of induction of myocardial infarction, all animals in the infarcted group showed abnormal ventricular contractile segmental result, reflected by the perimeter infarction (30%) and pathologic analysis which process shown hyalinization in 45% of animals.Important inflammatory infiltrates process was identified in lung pathologic analysis, 5 control mice and 5 IM + PBS animals. Conclusion:Our results allow us to conclude that the model of infarction caused by ligation of the left coronary artery is a good experimental model, demonstrated by echocardiographic assessments, which contribute to the deepening pathophysiological and therapeutic syndrome of heart failure, despite its peculiarities.