Electrocardiograms Corresponding to the Development of Myocardial Infarction in Anesthetized WHHLMI Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), an Animal Model for Familial Hypercholesterolemia

The aim of this study was to determine whether features indicative of myocardial ischemia occur in the electrocardiograms (ECG) in myocardial infarction-prone Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHLMI) rabbits, an animal model for human familial hypercholesterolemia. ECG were recorded in 110 anesthetized WHHLMI rabbits (age, 10 to 39 mo) by using unipolar and bipolar limb leads with or without chest leads. We noted the following electrocardiographic changes: T wave inversion (37.4%), ST segment depression (31.8%), deep Q wave (16.3%), reduced R wave amplitude (7.3%), ST segment elevation (2.7%), and high T wave (1.8%). These ECG changes resembled those in human patients with coronary heart disease. Histopathologic examination revealed that the left ventricular wall showed acute myocardial lesions, including loss of cross-striations, vacuolar degeneration, coagulation necrosis of cardiac myocytes, and edema between myofibrils, in addition to chronic myocardial lesions such as myocardial fibrosis. The coronary arteries that caused these ECG changes were severely stenosed due to atherosclerotic lesions. Ischemic ECG changes corresponded to the locations of the myocardial lesions. Normal ECG waveforms were similar between WHHLMI rabbits and humans, in contrast to the large differences between rabbits and mice or rats. In conclusion, ischemic ECG changes in WHHLMI rabbits reflect the location of myocardial lesions, making this model useful for studying coronary heart disease.Abbreviations: CHD, coronary heart disease; ECG, electrocardiogram; WHHL, Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic; WHHLMI, myocardial infarction-prone Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemicCoronary heart disease (CHD) is prevalent in developed countries, including the United States.^16,24 Although potent compounds (for example, statins to inhibit cholesterol synthesis) have been developed to reduce the public health burden of this disease, CHD remains a leading cause of death, and further efforts are needed to reduce associated morbidity and mortality.²⁵ In evaluating the therapeutic effects of CHD interventions, the electrocardiogram (ECG) is an essential tool for examining myocardial function.³⁹In humans, various ischemic ECG changes occur in association with myocardial ischemia and infarction, such as high T wave, ST segment elevation, emergence of the deep Q wave, reduction of R wave amplitude, resolution of ST segment elevation, and T wave inversion.^21,39 In addition, ST segment depression is a typical change observed with subendocardial ischemia.^2,7In the study of myocardial ischemia, animal models that show ECG waveforms comparable to those of human patients with CHD play an important role. This similarity is important not only for assessing the effects of agents for the treatment of CHD but also for assessing adverse effects of newly developed agents on cardiac function. Although ECG have been used to study myocardial ischemia in several species including pigs, dogs, rabbits, rats, and mice,^{3,9,10,14,18,23} most of these studies used coronary ligation models. These models do not fully reflect the events that occur during myocardial ischemia caused by atherosclerotic coronary stenosis, which is seen typically in patients with CHD.The Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbit⁴⁰ and the myocardial infarction-prone WHHL (WHHLMI) rabbit³³ are animal models for the study of human myocardial ischemia. WHHLMI rabbits spontaneously develop hypercholesterolemia due to a deficiency of receptors for low-density lipoproteins and manifest severe coronary atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. Importantly, lipoprotein metabolism in WHHL and WHHLMI rabbits resembles that in humans.^28,30 Using these advantages of the WHHL and WHHLMI models, we and others have been studying the effects of hypocholesterolemic and antiatherosclerotic agents on coronary atherosclerosis.^29,32,34 However, ECG were not examined in these studies. Because the rabbit heart is electrophysiologically similar to the human heart,^27,38 using ECG to monitor myocardial function in the WHHLMI rabbit may be valuable.In the present study, we examined whether ECG changes observed in WHHLMI rabbits reflect myocardial ischemia and whether those changes correspond to ECG features in human patients with CHD.