BACKGROUND: The rabbit heart has been frequently used to study regional ischemia, but there is hardly any detailed information on the epicardial branching of the coronary arteries. Therefore, we wanted to determine whether there is a constant branching pattern and how comparable this pattern is with the human heart. METHODS: We investigated epicardial branching of the coronary arteries in 30 adult rabbit hearts. For vessel visualisation, we used injections of Technovit, followed by corrosion. RESULTS: We found that there is not one constant pattern but rather a bifurcation or a trifurcation of the arteria coronaria sinistra (15 of 15 hearts). The left coronary artery is always the dominant artery; a vessel comparable to the human ramus interventricularis anterior is rarely found in the bifurcation type. The ramus circumflexus is a constant but minor branch of the posterior or posterolateral division and does not originate directly from the main stem of the left coronary artery, as it does in humans. As a consequence, ligation of the left ramus interventricularis anterior leads to severe ischemic injury only where trifurcation exists (50% of our population). A ligation of the ramus circumflexus proximal to its origin produces a large posterolateral infarction in the bifurcation type (50% of our population). CONCLUSIONS: Because a defined ischemic area is difficult to reproduce under these anatomical conditions, the rabbit heart may be a model only for regional ischemia if the investigator is knowledgeable about the distributions of the coronary arteries.
BACKGROUND: The rabbit heart has been frequently used to study regional ischemia, but there is hardly any detailed information on the epicardial branching of the coronary arteries. Therefore, we wanted to determine whether there is a constant branching pattern and how comparable this pattern is with the human heart. METHODS: We investigated epicardial branching of the coronary arteries in 30 adult rabbit hearts. For vessel visualisation, we used injections of Technovit, followed by corrosion. RESULTS: We found that there is not one constant pattern but rather a bifurcation or a trifurcation of the arteria coronaria sinistra (15 of 15 hearts). The left coronary artery is always the dominant artery; a vessel comparable to the human ramus interventricularis anterior is rarely found in the bifurcation type. The ramus circumflexus is a constant but minor branch of the posterior or posterolateral division and does not originate directly from the main stem of the left coronary artery, as it does in humans. As a consequence, ligation of the left ramus interventricularis anterior leads to severe ischemic injury only where trifurcation exists (50% of our population). A ligation of the ramus circumflexus proximal to its origin produces a large posterolateral infarction in the bifurcation type (50% of our population). CONCLUSIONS: Because a defined ischemic area is difficult to reproduce under these anatomical conditions, the rabbit heart may be a model only for regional ischemia if the investigator is knowledgeable about the distributions of the coronary arteries.
Authors: Min Xie; Yongli Kong; Wei Tan; Herman May; Pavan K Battiprolu; Zully Pedrozo; Zhao V Wang; Cyndi Morales; Xiang Luo; Geoffrey Cho; Nan Jiang; Michael E Jessen; John J Warner; Sergio Lavandero; Thomas G Gillette; Aslan T Turer; Joseph A Hill Journal: Circulation Date: 2014-01-06 Impact factor: 29.690
Authors: Patrick J Morrissey; Kevin R Murphy; Jean M Daley; Lorraine Schofield; Nilufer N Turan; Karuppiah Arunachalam; J Dawn Abbott; Gideon Koren Journal: Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol Date: 2017-02-17 Impact factor: 4.733
Authors: Seong Woo Choi; Jun Seok Ahn; Hyoung Kyu Kim; Nari Kim; Tae-Hoon Choi; Sung-Woo Park; En A Ko; Won Sun Park; Dae-Kyu Song; Jin Han Journal: Korean J Physiol Pharmacol Date: 2011-08-31 Impact factor: 2.016