EXPERIMENTAL MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION IN RAT - QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE CHANGES DURING PATHOLOGIC EVOLUTION

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  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 90  (1) , 57-70
Abstract
Surgical occlusion of the left coronary artery of the rat is a relatively simple, economical technique for producing experimental myocardial infarction (MI). Histologic study of 1-21 day old MI in rats showed that following a mild and brief acute inflammatory response at the margins of the necrotic myocardium, there is chronic inflammation, vascular and collagenous proliferation and resorption of necrotic tissue which progresses until scar formation is complete, usually by 21 days. From days 1-21 the volume of infarcted myocardium decreases from 45.9 .+-. 5.9% (mean .+-. SEM [standard error of the mean]) to 26.1 .+-. 3.2% of the left ventricle, and infarct thickness decreases from 1.30 .+-. 0.06 mm to 0.47 .+-. 0.02 mm. Concomitantly the percent of the surface area of the left ventricle which is infarcted decreases insignificantly from 55.7 .+-. 7.2% to 48.3 .+-. 4.2%, indicating that the decrease in volume of the infarcted tissue occurs primarily as a result of thinning of the MI.