Home › Cell Biology › Creation of a Rodent Model of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm by Blocking Adventitial Vasa Vasorum Perfusion
Cell Biology JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Creation of a Rodent Model of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm by Blocking Adventitial Vasa Vasorum Perfusion

DOI: 10.3791/55763-v
What you'll learn
  • ✓ Perform polyurethane catheter insertion and aortic ligation to induce AAA
  • ✓ Execute aortic tissue harvesting, fixation, and EVG staining protocols
  • ✓ Analyze aneurysm morphology and elastin degradation in rodent aorta
  • ✓ Assess vasa vasorum hypoperfusion as AAA pathogenic mechanism
Protocol

Polyurethane catheter insertion into the aortic lumen and suture ligation of the aorta induce chronic hypoxia due to hypoperfusion of the adventitial vasa vasorum. This article describes a novel animal model of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with characteristics similar to those of AAA in humans.

Difficulty
advanced
Total time
~3-4 hours/animal (surgical procedure + tissue processing); tissue analysis varies by downstream methods
Model organism
Rodent (mouse/rat unspecified in abstract)
Biosafety
BSL-1

Steps

1
Insert polyurethane catheter into aortic lumen

Place polyurethane catheter into the abdominal aorta via surgical access. This catheter insertion, combined with subsequent suture ligation, restricts vasa vasorum perfusion and induces chronic hypoxia in the aortic wall.

▶ 01:20
2
Ligate aorta and induce adventitial hypoperfusion

Apply suture ligation of the aorta to block adventitial vasa vasorum blood flow. This creates the hypoperfusion condition that drives AAA formation in the chronic phase.

▶ 01:20
3
Harvest, fix, and stain aortic tissue

Extract aortic tissue from the treated animal, fix in appropriate fixative, and perform Elastica-van Gieson (EVG) staining to visualize elastin degradation and aortic wall remodeling characteristic of AAA.

▶ 04:44
4
Image and analyze stained aortic specimens

Obtain representative imaging of EVG-stained aortic sections to document aneurysm morphology, elastin fragmentation, and wall structure changes indicative of AAA pathology.

▶ 06:33
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