Abstract: Objective To establish a myocardial ischemia model induced by ligation of coronary artery in WHBE rabbits,, and to investigate its cardiovascular system sensitivity through comparing to Japanese white rabbits. Methods Male WHBE rabbits and Japanese white rabbits were randomly divided into sham operation group and model group (n=10 in each). The sham operation group was only chest opened but not ligated and the myocardial ischemia model was induced by ligation of coronary artery. The degree of ST-segment elevation and activity changes of blood plasma AST, CK, LDH were observed before, at, and after making model for 60 min in each group, and myocardial infarction size was measured by NBT staining and image analysis software. Results Compared with sham operation group, the ST-segment was significantly elevated (P<0.01), and infarction size was also increased (P<0.01) , the blood plasma AST, CK, LDH activities were markedly raised after ligation of coronary artery in WHBE rabbits and Japanese white rabbits model group (P<0.05, P<0.01). Compared with Japanese white rabbit, the ST-segment, infarction size and blood plasma AST, CK, LDH activities in WHBE rabbits induced by ligation of coronary artery were slightly higher than those of Japanese white rabbits, especially for infarction size (P<0.05). Conclusion WHBE rabbit is more sensitive for myocardial ischemia induced by ligated coronary artery and ideal myocardial infarction model, and adapted to research of cardiovascular disease.

Key words: WHBE rabbit, Infarction size, Myocardial ischemia, Japanese white rabbit, Animal model