Title: Development, evaluation and application of reperfused liver infarction in rats as a practical model for studying ischemic diseases and screening new drugs

Authors: Huaijun Wang, Xia Wu, Feng Chen, Lixin Jin, Junjie Li, Yuanbo Feng, Frederik DeKeyzer, Jie Yu, Yansheng Jiang, Alfons Verbruggen, Guy Marchal, Yicheng Ni

Addresses: Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium. ' Radiology Section, Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals, and Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Biomedical Sciences Group, Catholic University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium

Abstract: Appropriate animal models of human diseases often lead to important discoveries in biomedical sciences. An animal model of reperfused liver infarction (RLI) in rats has been introduced and applied originally as an easier substitute of brain and heart infarction for developing necrosis-avid contrast agents (NACAs) to enhance the sensitivity and specificity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in diagnosis of ischemic cardiovascular diseases such as acute myocardial infarction and stroke and in the assessment of certain tissue destroying therapies. The ever-advancing MRI technology has enabled comprehensive in vivo non-invasive characterisation of this model to gain further insight into its morphological and functional specifications and to implicate its broader utilities for preclinical developments of new diagnostics and therapeutics. The in vivo MRI outcomes have been further validated by postmortem microangiography and histology. The present mini review article aims to highlight a number of relevant aspects about the RLI model in rats and to facilitate those interested academic or industrial researchers to apply this model in their own experimental studies.

Keywords: animal models; modelling; MRI; rats; hemodynamics; contrast agents; necrosis; ischemia; reperfused liver infarction; RLI; ischemic diseases; drug screening; new drugs; magnetic resonance imaging; cardiovascular diseases; heart disease; acute myocardial infarction; strokes; medical imaging.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIC.2010.032805

International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control, 2010 Vol.9 No.3, pp.247 - 261

Published online: 23 Apr 2010 *

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