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Research methods for animal models of atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that threatens human health and lives by causing vascular stenosis and plaque rupture. Various animal models have been employed for elucidating the pathogenesis, drug development and treatment validation studies for atherosclerosis. To the best of ou...

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Autores principales: Zhang, Yali, Fatima, Mahreen, Hou, Siyuan, Bai, Liang, Zhao, Sihai, Liu, Enqi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: D.A. Spandidos 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8569513/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34713295
http://dx.doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2021.12511
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author Zhang, Yali
Fatima, Mahreen
Hou, Siyuan
Bai, Liang
Zhao, Sihai
Liu, Enqi
author_facet Zhang, Yali
Fatima, Mahreen
Hou, Siyuan
Bai, Liang
Zhao, Sihai
Liu, Enqi
author_sort Zhang, Yali
collection PubMed
description Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that threatens human health and lives by causing vascular stenosis and plaque rupture. Various animal models have been employed for elucidating the pathogenesis, drug development and treatment validation studies for atherosclerosis. To the best of our knowledge, the species used for atherosclerosis research include mice, rats, hamsters, rabbits, pigs, dogs, non-human primates and birds, among which the most commonly used ones are mice and rabbits. Notably, apolipoprotein E knockout (KO) or low-density lipoprotein receptor KO mice have been the most widely used animal models for atherosclerosis research since the late 20th century. Although the aforementioned animal models can form atherosclerotic lesions, they cannot completely simulate those in humans with respect to lesion location, lesion composition, lipoprotein composition and physiological structure. Hence, an appropriate animal model needs to be selected according to the research purpose. Additionally, it is necessary for atherosclerosis research to include quantitative analysis results of atherosclerotic lesion size and plaque composition. Laboratory animals can provide not only experimental tissues for in vivo studies but also cells needed for in vitro experiments. The present review first summarizes the common animal models and their practical applications, followed by focus on mouse and rabbit models and elucidating the methods to quantify atherosclerotic lesions. Finally, the methods of culturing endothelial cells, macrophages and smooth muscle cells were elucidated in detail and the experiments involved in atherosclerosis research were discussed.
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spelling pubmed-85695132021-12-07 Research methods for animal models of atherosclerosis Zhang, Yali Fatima, Mahreen Hou, Siyuan Bai, Liang Zhao, Sihai Liu, Enqi Mol Med Rep Review Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that threatens human health and lives by causing vascular stenosis and plaque rupture. Various animal models have been employed for elucidating the pathogenesis, drug development and treatment validation studies for atherosclerosis. To the best of our knowledge, the species used for atherosclerosis research include mice, rats, hamsters, rabbits, pigs, dogs, non-human primates and birds, among which the most commonly used ones are mice and rabbits. Notably, apolipoprotein E knockout (KO) or low-density lipoprotein receptor KO mice have been the most widely used animal models for atherosclerosis research since the late 20th century. Although the aforementioned animal models can form atherosclerotic lesions, they cannot completely simulate those in humans with respect to lesion location, lesion composition, lipoprotein composition and physiological structure. Hence, an appropriate animal model needs to be selected according to the research purpose. Additionally, it is necessary for atherosclerosis research to include quantitative analysis results of atherosclerotic lesion size and plaque composition. Laboratory animals can provide not only experimental tissues for in vivo studies but also cells needed for in vitro experiments. The present review first summarizes the common animal models and their practical applications, followed by focus on mouse and rabbit models and elucidating the methods to quantify atherosclerotic lesions. Finally, the methods of culturing endothelial cells, macrophages and smooth muscle cells were elucidated in detail and the experiments involved in atherosclerosis research were discussed. D.A. Spandidos 2021-12 2021-10-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8569513/ /pubmed/34713295 http://dx.doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2021.12511 Text en Copyright: © Zhang et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) , which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
spellingShingle Review
Zhang, Yali
Fatima, Mahreen
Hou, Siyuan
Bai, Liang
Zhao, Sihai
Liu, Enqi
Research methods for animal models of atherosclerosis
title Research methods for animal models of atherosclerosis
title_full Research methods for animal models of atherosclerosis
title_fullStr Research methods for animal models of atherosclerosis
title_full_unstemmed Research methods for animal models of atherosclerosis
title_short Research methods for animal models of atherosclerosis
title_sort research methods for animal models of atherosclerosis
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8569513/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34713295
http://dx.doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2021.12511
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