Objective: Evaluation of the method and outcomes of experimental myocardial infarction in rabbit as an animal model for human and veterinary studies design: Experimental procedure case review study.

Animals: Six male New Zealand rabbit (body weight 2.3 kg) were used in this study.

Methods: Left lateral thoracotomy was performed in all cases. The LAD was ligated and gross changes were recorded. Post-operative echocardiography and measurement of blood level troponin was performed in all rabbits. All cases were kept under similar condition for one month. Before euthanasia a final echocardiography was performed. All cases were euthanized by standard methods and their heart completely harvested. Measurement of infarct size by planimetry and by the use of image software was done. All hearts were submitted for histopathologic evaluation and electronic microscopic studies. An indepth study of all data was performed.

Results: Histopathologic and gross myocardial changes in all cases were report. Echocardiographic changes were recorded at two distinct times; exactly after surgery and one month later before euthanasia. All echocardiographic measurements were done in both series of echocardiography.

Conclusion and clinical relevance: A thorough evaluation and study of histopathologic and echocardiographic changes of experimental myocardial infarction was performed and a detail explanation of procedure and surgical techniques was done.