Background: Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death in the developed countries and myocardial infarction is the most serious manifestation of the disease. Swine are being chosen with increasing frequency as subject for interventional cardiology research. Their similarities to humans in their cardiovascular physiology, size and coronary anatomy make them better experimental subjects than most species. Moreover, regular human coronary catheter systems and techniques can be readily used to access their coronary vasculature. Objectives: In this paper, a simple swine model of human myocardial infarction is studied in detail using a percutaneously inserted balloon catheter. The main role of the present paper is to introduce and troubleshoot the technique and its potential pitfalls. Materials and Methods: Myocardial infarction was confirmed by the detection of ST segment elevation on the surface ECG, total creatine kinase release, gadolinium enhanced contrast MRI scan and by histology. Results and Discussion: We conclude that if investigators are familiar with both human and animal research, this model is practical, inexpensive and can provide reproducible and consistent infarct sizes that closely mimic the human myocardial infarction. With very careful technique inducing LAD infarction distal to the second diagonal branch and done by trained team, our mortality was lower than in the literature, only 12.5%. It was also proven that the size of myocardial infarction induced by this technique was big enough to be used for different interventional cardiology research. From our study, it is clearly visible, that only a close collaboration between veterinary medicine and human cardiology can avoid the difficulties of complex swine coronary experiments and leads to success.

A sertéseket gyakran alkalmazzák az intervenciós kardiológiai kutatásokban a humán kardiológiához való hasonlóságuk, valamint a humán koronária katéterrendszerek és technikák sertésekben való könnyű használhatósága miatt. Munkánkban az emberi ST-elevációs szívizominfarktus sertésmodelljét vizsgáltuk, amit ST-szakasz emelkedéssel, a teljes szérum kreatinin-kináz felszabadulással, gadolinium kontraszt MRI-vel és szövettannal igazoltunk. Bizonyítottuk, hogy a modell kivitelezhető, reprodukálható, költséghatékony és a létrehozott szívinfarktus hasonló az emberi szívinfarktushoz. Munkánkból kitűnik, hogy csak az állatorvosok és a humán kardiológusok együttműködésével lehet a sertés koronária vizsgálatok nehézségeit kiküszöbölni, és ezek a komplex beavatkozások csak így vihetők sikerre.

A sertések régóta használt modellállatok a különböző kutatási tevékenységekben. Kifejezetten jól használhatók a kardiovaszkuláris betegségek vizsgálatában. A hagyományos húshibridek használatának azonban gátat szab nagy növekedési erélyük, amely miatt nem alkalmasak hosszú utánkövetési idejű vagy felnőtt szervezetben, krónikus betegségek modellezésére kialakított kutatási feladatokra. Ezekben az esetekben a törpe sertésfajták alkalmazása jelent megoldást a kutatók számára. A kisméretű fajták alkalmazásával nyert kutatási eredmények jól adaptálhatók, illetve extrapolálhatók a humán populáció hasonló betegségeinek megismerése és kezelése vonatkozásában azzal, hogy a kutatóknak törekedni kell ezen fajták biológiai sajátosságainak minél mélyebb megismerésére.

The objective of this study was to present the updated segmentation technique predicting the loin muscle weight of rabbits based on in vivo computed tomography measurements. The segmented muscle volumes are used to estimate the weight of the loin muscle and the predicted weights are compared to the real weights of meat cuts measured after the dissection of the animals. The R2 value of the proposed technique is 0.74 which is significantly better than the determination coefficients than that of the of the previously used method (R2 0.49). The proposed technique is suitable to be involved in the breeding selection program of rabbits (Pannon White) at Kaposvár University, Hungary.

Background: 25% of the patients suffering from otitis media do not show any abnormalities on radiographs. To visualize this anatomical region, both CT and MRI are more sensitive and precise imaging modalities. Using multiplanar and 3D imaging techniques, additional essential information can be acquired about the disease: uni- or bilaterality, extesnion, distinction between the central and vestibular syndrome, differentiation of inflammatory and tumorous diseases, duration of the abnormality, involvement of the neighboring tissues and the possibly peri-operational complications. Objectives: This study aimed to summarize the CT and MRI characteristics of the middle and inner ear diseases via case presentations and showing the usefulness of cross sectional imaging methods in the everyday praxis. Materials and Methods: The authors described the CT findings of a 10 years old female golden retriever with otitis media and a 6 years old French bulldog's MRI result presented with neurological signs associated with otitis media with intracranial extension. Results and Discussion: Despite the dog was occasionally having otitis externa symptoms otitis media was an incidental CT finding. The disease proved to be a unilateral chronic inflammation of the right middle ear. The French bulldog had a right-sided marked otitis media and interna with intracranial involvement: focal meningitis and neuritis of the VIII. cranial nerve were evident in the MRI examination. CT and MR imaging helped to define the extent and

Background: New terminology on chronic, inflammatory lower airway diseases of horses has been recently introduced. Equine asthma syndrome includes inflammatory airway disease (IAD) and incurrent airway obstruction (RAO, heaves), as these diseases resemble human asthma in many respects. Updates bout the aetiology, pathogenesis and management of equine asthma are necessary, because a large amount of new scientific results have been published and led to a better understanding of these conditions. Objectives: To review the aetiology, pathogenesis, clinical signs, diagnosis, treatment and management of severe equine asthma (RAO). Materials and Methods: 109 publications have been reviewed. Results and Discussion: Recurrent airway obstruction affects horses over 7 years of age. It is associated with marked lower airway inflammation and obstruction caused by inhaled allergens. Clinical signs include increased respiratory effort at rest, frequent chronic coughing and poor performance or exercise intolerance. These signs can be reversed in most cases by the administration of glucocorticoids, bronchodilators or changing the environment. IAD and RAO represents spectrum of chronic, inflammatory lower airway diseases, but they should not be intrepreted as a diseases continuum, although in certain cases IAD may develop into RAO. Management of horses with severe equine asthma include sedical therapy with glucocorticoids, bronchodilators such as beta-2 adrenergic agoinsts or methyl xanthine derivatives, and mucolytics, Environmnental management includes the use of dust tree feed, roughage and bedding, improved stable ventilation and pasture turnout.

AIMS To evaluate the short-, mid- and long-term safety, efficacy and vascular physiology of Axetis silicon dioxide (SiO2, abrading the micropores) inert-coated stent implantation in a randomised preclinical setting. METHODS AND RESULTS Coronary arteries of domestic pigs were randomised to receive either Axetis or BMS (same design) stents with one-, three- and six-month follow-up (FUP), controlled by coronary angiography, optical coherence tomography (OCT), intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and histology (n=32). The time-dependent vasomotor reaction of coronary arteries to stenting was measured using modified myography (n=12). Complete endothelialisation of the Axetis stent was confirmed by OCT, IVUS and histology at one-month FUP. Histopathology revealed continuous healing of the vessel wall with a gradual reduction of inflammation and fibrin score during the six-month FUP in both stent types. Significantly smaller neointimal area and %area stenosis were measured in Axetis stents compared with BMS at each FUP time point. Vascular reactivity measurements showed significantly better endothelium-dependent vasodilation of stented arteries with Axetis implantation. CONCLUSIONS Implantation of the Axetis SiO2-coated stent resulted in a significantly better safety, efficacy and vessel physiology profile compared with BMS of the same design with a continuous decrease in vessel inflammation during the six-month FUP.

Electrocardiography-gated dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methodology was developed for the in vivo examination of sheep heart characteristics. By combining noninvasive determination of skeletal muscle mass, we studied the relationship between total body skeletal muscle content and heart performance. Measurements were carried out on male Merino lambs using 1.5 T field strength equipment. Average left ventricular volumes were determined and stroke volume was estimated during image postprocessing. Ejection fraction was calculated (73 ± 1.8%) and the cardiac output (CO) value was estimated (2.75 ± 0.16 L/min). After measuring left ventricular wall thickness, contraction values were determined at the septum (62%), anterior (69%), lateral (54%), and posterior (58%) walls. Ventricular mass was also calculated. Body composition measurement was performed immediately after MRI examination by computerized tomography (CT) during the same narcosis. Relative CO value was developed from the interpretation of the functional MRI and volumetric CT results, expressing the relationship between heart performance and total body skeletal muscle volume. Finally, CO value relating to body surface was estimated (18.3 ± 3.1 dm2/(L min-1)) to characterize the metabolic rate.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY:Restenosis occurs invariably within 12 months following balloon valvuloplasty (BAV) in calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD), and is a limiting factor of this treatment. Cellular proliferation secondary to balloon injury is thought to play a pivotal role in the mechanism of restenosis. The study aim was to investigate the potential role of a paclitaxel-eluting valvuloplasty balloon to mitigate the progression of restenosis in an animal model of CAVD.METHODS:Fifty-three rabbits were fed with an aortic stenosis (AS)-inducing diet (cholesterol 0.5% plus vitamin D3 50,000 IU/day) for three months. The surviving animals (n = 40) underwent echocardiographic and invasive assessments, followed by valvuloplasty, randomly using either a paclitaxel-coated (3 μg/mm2) or a plain balloon. At one month after BAV, the surviving animals (n = 28) underwent repeat assessments, followed by histology and micro-computed tomography (MicroCT) analysis of the aortic valve.RESULTS:The baseline and post-BAV transvalvular gradients, aortic valve area (AVA), left ventricular stroke work loss (SWL) and aortic valve resistance (AVR) were similar between the groups (14 rabbits were assigned to paclitaxel-eluting, and 14 to plain balloon). Significant differences between the groups were observed at one-month post-BAV, which was suggestive of diminished restenosis in the paclitaxel-balloon group (mean maximum transvalvular pressure gradient 7.7 ± 7.7 versus 3.6 ± 3.7 mmHg, p = 0.08; AVA 0.91 ± 0.59 versus 0.55 ± 0.22 cm2, p = 0.04; SWL 3.5 ± 4.0 versus 8.6 ± 8.0%, p = 0.047; AVR 86 ± 71 versus 177 ± 137 dynes/s/cm(-5), p = 0.039). Histology demonstrated decreased leaflet thickness (0.60 ± 0.15 versus 0.71 ± 0.17 mm, p = 0.03), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) staining (grade 1.53 ± 0.04 versus 2.24 ± 0.55, p = 0.049), and calcification in the paclitaxel-balloon group.CONCLUSION:Use of a paclitaxel-eluting valvuloplasty balloon in an animal model of AS resulted in attenuated restenosis, secondary to decrease in valve proliferation and calcification.

The quantity of cells with paracrine effects for use in myocardial regeneration therapy is limited. This study investigated the effects of catheter-based endomyocardial delivery of secretome of 2.5 × 109 apoptotic peripheral blood mononuclear cells (APOSEC) on porcine chronic post-myocardial infarction (MI) left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and on gene expression. Closed-chest reperfused MI was induced in pigs by 90-min occlusion followed by reperfusion of the mid-LAD (day 0). At day 30, animals were randomized to receive porcine APOSEC (n = 8) or medium solution (control; n = 8) injected intramyocardially into the MI border zone using 3D NOGA guidance. At day 60, cardiac MRI with late enhancement and diagnostic NOGA (myocardial viability) were performed. Gene expression profiling of the infarct core, border zone, and normal myocardium was performed using microarray analysis and confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. Injection of APOSEC significantly decreased infarct size (p < 0.05) and improved cardiac index and myocardial viability compared to controls. A trend towards higher LV ejection fraction was observed in APOSEC vs. controls (45.4 ± 5.9% vs. 37.4 ± 8.9%, p = 0.052). Transcriptome analysis revealed significant downregulation of caspase-1, tumor necrosis factor and other inflammatory genes in APOSEC-affected areas. rtPCR showed higher expression of myogenic factor Mefc2 (p < 0.05) and downregulated caspase genes (p < 0.05) in APOSEC-treated pigs. In conclusion, overexpression of MEF2c and repression of caspase was related to decreased infarct size and improved cardiac function in secretome-treated animals. Altered gene expression 1-month post-APOSEC treatment proved the long-acting effects of cell-free therapy with paracrine factors.

Introduction: Brief repetitive ischemia/reperfusion (R-IR) confers cardioprotection against subsequent prolonged ischemia, referred to ischemic preconditioning (IP). Hypothesis: In this study we in...

The diagnostic characteristics of electromechanical mapping (EMM) were evaluated in porcine myocardial infarction (MI) models with the parallel application of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) from the aspect of different pathophysiology and localization. Balloon occlusion in the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD balloon group) or coil deployment in the LAD (LAD coil group) or circumflex artery (Cx coil group) was applied percutaneously in 16 domestic pigs. Regional left ventricular viability data were captured via cMRI and EMM. The unipolar voltage (UV) value was significantly decreased in segments containing transmural and subendocardial late enhancement compared with viable segments in the LAD balloon, LAD coil, and Cx coil groups. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed area under the curve values of 0.809 and 0.691 in the LAD infarct territory, and 0.864 and 0.855 in the Cx infarct territory for the UV compared with cMRI viability results as transmural late enhancement or viable tissue and subendocardial late enhancement or viable tissue, respectively. In conclusion, the UV value detected the presence of scar tissue with differential transmural extent and which represented proper diagnostic features both in the reperfused and nonreperfused models. This data could provide additional benefit in the clinical use of EMM for diagnostic purposes.

The authors adopted the angiographic osmotic blood-brain barrier opening method on pigs. During the angiography beside the previously experienced complications, new complications that unambiguously related to the BBB opening have not been occurred. They proved the reversible opening of BBB in the osmotic way by in vitro and in vivo methods (CT, MRI); the closing time was 30-60 minutes. During the MR examination USPIO structured iron content contrast agent was applied, which appeared in the brain after the osmotic BBB opening, thus it got through the BBB. Pig may be appropriate to further experiments of BBB, because despite the species specific rete mirabile, a relatively -good side difference can be achieved in the point of BBB opening. The iron content MR contrast nanoparticle that get through the osmotically opened BBB proved that the new agent may be proper for the examination of central nervous system also in pigs.

Objectives This study evaluated the protective effect of nitric oxide-coating of introducer sheath on the local complications in juvenile porcine femoral arteries with similar size to human radial arteries.Background Insertion of an introducer sheath induces vasospasm and transient or permanent vessel occlusion of radial arteries.Methods Nitric oxide-coated or control introducer sheaths with or without spasmolytic cocktail (control + C-sheath) were inserted into porcine femoral arteries, followed by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The diameter of the femoral artery at the puncture site, distally and proximally, was measured by quantitative angiography. Histopathological and histomorphometric parameters of the femoral arteries were analyzed 1 h or 1 week after PCI.Results Insertion of femoral sheath led to mild or severe spasms, with significantly higher vessel diameter at the access site (2.69 +/- 0.81 mm vs. 1.77 +/- 0.77 mm and 1.85 +/- 0.66 mm, p < 0.001), and proximal and distal to it, during PCI in the nitric oxide-sheath group versus the control-sheath and control + C-sheath groups, respectively. Immediately following PCI, significantly less lumina! thrombosis (12% vs. 33% and 31% of all analyzed segments, p < 0.001) was observed in the nitric oxide-sheath arteries. At 1 week, lower intimal inflammation score (0.43 +/- 11 vs. 1.03 +/- 0.35 and 1.04 +/- 0.32, p < 0.05), less luminal thrombosis (8% vs. 21% and 30% p < 0.05), and smaller intimal hyperplasia (0.31 +/- 0.31 mm(2) vs. 0.47 +/- 1.00 mm(2) and 0.86 +/- 0.82 mm(2), p < 0.05) were observed in NO-sheath arteries at the injury site.Conclusions Nitric oxide coating on the introducer sheath prevents local complications during PCI and results in less vascular thrombosis and inflammation at the access site, contributing to patency of the access vessel with similar size to the radial artery. (J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2011;4:98-106) (C) 2011 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation

The aim of the present study was to investigate the changes in absolute myocardial blood flow (AMF) after intracoronary injections of mesenchymal SC (MSC) and compared to controls in closed-chest reperfused acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in pigs. Male MSCs, transiently transfected with Luciferase (Luc-MSC) were delivered \( \left( {{9}.{7}\pm {1}.{2} \times {1}{0^{{6}}}} \right) \) intracoronary in the open infarct-related artery one-week post-AMI in female pigs (group MSC), while saline was injected with the same injection rate in controls (group C). The AMF was measured immediately after, and 3, 12 and 24 h post-intracoronary Luc-MSC or saline injections. In vitro bioluminescence images and quantitative real-time TaqMan PCR measurements were performed to quantify the sex-mismatched MSCs. No difference between the groups was observed regarding the weight, heart rate, blood pressure and global ejection fraction 1-week post-AMI. The baseline AMF were similar in the groups (61.3 ± 15. vs 61.1 ± 12.0 ml/min). AMF was decreased significantly immediately after intracoronary MSC delivery (42.0 ± 12.4 vs 57.7 ± 15.7 ml/min p = 0.013), and remained low at 3 h (40.9 ± 13.4 vs 55.8 ± 4.9 ml/min, p = 0.004), 12 h (43.0 ± 3.7 vs 57.8 ± 5.4 ml/min, p = 0.001) with incomplete recovery at 24 h (47.2 ± 5.5 vs 62.1 ± 14.1 ml/min, p = 0.038) as compared to controls, respectively. In vitro bioluminescence displayed transfected Luc-MSCs along the proximal and mid part of the LAD, with limited number (295 ± 101 sry copied/million cardiac cells) of Y-chromosome-MSCs in the infarcted area. Intracoronary injection of SCs results in immediate decrease of AMF, with delayed recovery. The delivery of the SC into the injured myocardium might be hindered by the altered coronary pressure and flow conditions.