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Grajciarová M, Turek D, Malečková A, Pálek R, Liška V, Tomášek P, Králičková M, Tonar Z. Are ovine and porcine carotid arteries equivalent animal models for experimental cardiac surgery: A quantitative histological comparison. Ann Anat 2022; 242:151910. [PMID: 35189268 DOI: 10.1016/j.aanat.2022.151910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2021] [Revised: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a common cardiac surgery. Manufacturing small-diameter (2-5mm) vascular grafts for CABG is important for patients who lack first-choice autologous arterial, or venous conduits. Ovine and porcine common carotid arteries (CCAs) are used as large animal models for in vivo testing of newly developed tissue-engineered arterial grafts. It is unknown to what extent these models are interchangeable and whether the left and right arteries of the same subjects can be used as experimental controls. Therefore, we compared the microscopic structure of paired left and right ovine and porcine CCAs in the proximodistal direction and compared these animal model samples to samples of human coronary arteries (CAs) and human internal thoracic arteries (ITAs). METHODS We compared the histological composition of whole CCAs of sheep (n=22 animals) with whole porcine CCAs (n=21), segments of human CAs (n=21), and human ITAs (n=21). Using unbiased sampling and stereological methods, we quantified the fractions of elastin, total collagen, type I collagen, type III collagen, smooth muscle actin (SMA) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) A, B, and C. We also quantified the densities and distributions of nuclear profiles, nervi vasorum and vasa vasorum as well as the thickness of the intima-media and total wall thickness. RESULTS The differences between the paired samples of left and right CCAs in sheep were substantially greater than the differences in laterality in porcine CCAs. The right ovine CCAs had a smaller fraction of elastin (p<0.001), greater fraction of SMA (p<0.01), and greater intima-media thickness (p<0.001) than the paired left side CCAs. In pigs, the right CCAs had a greater fraction of elastin (p<0.05) and a greater density of vasa vasorum in the media (p<0.001) than the left-side CCAs. The fractions of elastin and CS decreased and the fraction of SMA increased in the proximodistal direction in both the ovine (p<0.001) and porcine (p<0.001) CCAs. Ovine CCAs had a muscular phenotype along their entire length, but porcine CCAs were elastic-type arteries in the proximal segments but muscular type arteries in middle and distal segments. The CCAs of both animals differed from the human CAs and ITAs in most parameters, but the ovine CCAs had a comparable fraction of elastin and CS to human ITAs. CONCLUSIONS From a histological point of view, ovine and porcine CCAs were not equivalent in most quantitative parameters to human CAs and ITAs. Left and right ovine CCAs did not have the same histological composition, which is limiting for their mutual equivalence as sham-operated controls in experiments. These differences should be taken into account when designing and interpreting experiments using these models in cardiac surgery. The complete morphometric data obtained by quantitative evaluation of arterial segments were provided to facilitate the power analysis necessary for justification of the minimum number of samples when planning further experiments. The middle or distal segments of ovine and porcine CCAs remain the most realistic and the best characterized large animal models for testing artificial arterial CABG conduits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Grajciarová
- Department of Histology and Embryology and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Daniel Turek
- First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Katerinska 32, 121 08 Prague 2, Czech Republic; Department of Cardiac Surgery, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Videnska 1958/9, 140 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Anna Malečková
- Department of Histology and Embryology and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Richard Pálek
- Department of Surgery and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Husova 3, 306 05 Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Václav Liška
- Department of Surgery and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Husova 3, 306 05 Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Tomášek
- Department of Histology and Embryology and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic; Department of Forensic Medicine, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and Na Bulovce Hospital, Budinova 2, 180 81 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Milena Králičková
- Department of Histology and Embryology and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Zbyněk Tonar
- Department of Histology and Embryology and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic.
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Tomášek P, Tonar Z, Grajciarová M, Kural T, Turek D, Horáková J, Pálek R, Eberlová L, Králíčková M, Liška V. Histological mapping of porcine carotid arteries - An animal model for the assessment of artificial conduits suitable for coronary bypass grafting in humans. Ann Anat 2019; 228:151434. [PMID: 31704146 DOI: 10.1016/j.aanat.2019.151434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2019] [Revised: 09/12/2019] [Accepted: 10/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Using animal models in experimental medicine requires mapping of their anatomical variability. Porcine common carotid arteries (CCA) are often preferred for the preclinical testing of vascular grafts due to their anatomical and physiological similarity to human small-diameter arteries. Comparing the microscopic structure of animal model organs to their human counterparts reveals the benefits and limitations of translational medicine. METHODS Using quantitative histology and stereology, we performed an extensive mapping of the regional proximodistal differences in the fractions of elastin, collagen, and smooth muscle actin as well as the intima-media and wall thicknesses among 404 segments (every 1 cm) of porcine CCAs collected from male and female pigs (n = 21). We also compared the microscopic structure of porcine CCAs with segments of human coronary arteries and one of the preferred arterial conduits used for the coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), namely, the internal thoracic artery (ITA) (n = 21 human cadavers). RESULTS The results showed that the histological structure of left and right porcine CCA can be considered equivalent, provided that gross anatomical variations of the regular branching patterns are excluded. The proximal elastic carotid (51.2% elastin, 4.2% collagen, and 37.2% actin) transitioned to more muscular middle segments (23.5% elastin, 4.9% collagen, 54.3% actin) at the range of 2-3 centimeters and then to even more muscular distal segments (17.2% elastin, 4.9% collagen, 64.0% actin). The resulting morphometric data set shows the biological variability of the artery and is made available for biomechanical modeling and for performing a power analysis and calculating the minimum number of samples per group when planning further experiments with this widely used large animal model. CONCLUSIONS Comparison of porcine carotids with human coronary arteries and ITA revealed the benefits and the limitations of using porcine CCAs as a valid model for testing bioengineered small-diameter CABG vascular conduits. Morphometry of human coronary arteries and ITA provided more realistic data for tailoring multilayered artificial vascular prostheses and the ranges of values within which the conduits should be tested in the future. Despite their limitations, porcine CCAs remain a widely used and well-characterized large animal model that is available for a variety of experiments in vascular surgery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petr Tomášek
- Department of Histology and Embryology and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic; Department of Forensic Medicine, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and Na Bulovce Hospital, Budinova 2, 180 81 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Zbyněk Tonar
- Department of Histology and Embryology and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic.
| | - Martina Grajciarová
- Department of Histology and Embryology and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Tomáš Kural
- Department of Histology and Embryology and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Daniel Turek
- First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Katerinska 32, 121 08 Prague 2, Czech Republic; Department of Cardiac Surgery, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Videnska 1958/9, 140 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jana Horáková
- Department of Nonwovens and Nanofibrous Materials, Faculty of Textile Engineering, Technical University of Liberec, Studentska 2, 461 17 Liberec, Czech Republic
| | - Richard Pálek
- Department of Surgery and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Husova 3, 306 05 Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Lada Eberlová
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Milena Králíčková
- Department of Histology and Embryology and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Karlovarska 48, 301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Václav Liška
- Department of Surgery and Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Husova 3, 306 05 Pilsen, Czech Republic
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