Common swine models of cardiovascular disease for research and training (original) (raw)

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of human deaths worldwide, and some health experts estimate that approximately one third of the world population will die of this cause 1. The annual rate of deaths caused by coronary heart disease in the US has decreased by about 26.3% since 1997, but as of 2011 it is estimated that approximately 34% of people who experience a coronary attack in a given year will die from it 2. Cardiovascular disease is therefore of great concern to human medicine and an important topic to biomedical research. Research animals are often used to model cardiovascular disease, and regulations generally require that researchers assess the safety and efficacy of any new treatment or therapy with animals before attempting a clinical translation for human medicine 3-5. However, it is of utmost importance that researchers who use or develop animal models stay abreast of current methods and techniques, understanding their benefits, their difficulties and the best way to manage animal biomedical models. Researchers and educators must correctly understand the anatomical and physiological particularities of their study species in order to implement a successful animal laboratory, where scientists use species that are most suited to their research objectives and where they understand the welfare requirements of their animals. Anesthetic and analgesic techniques similarly must be tailored to each study in order to ensure the optimal survival and welfare of research animals while minimizing complicating side effects of drug treatments. In general, the scientific community has become increasingly diligent in ensuring the humane use of laboratory animals, as is evident in the many different guidelines that aim to improve science by promoting better research practices with animals 6-8. Moreover, requirements for academic publication are growing more stringent in areas of biomedical research,