ORIGINATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ISOPROTERENOL-INDUCED MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION IN MALE WISTAR RATS

Cardiovascular disease is considered the major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Catecholamines (epinephrine, norepinephrine and isoproterenol) and their oxidation products cause a direct toxic effect on the myocardium. They exert a receptor-mediated effect on the myocardium. Isoproterenol is a synthetic catecholamine that simulates the actions of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation on the heart. Chronic isoproterenol administration produces a rapid, highly reproducible rodent model of cardiac hypertrophy. Isoproterenol infusion impaired in vivo cardiac function, induced hypertrophy and decreased both fatty acid and glucose metabolism, changes similar in direction and magnitude to those found in the rat heart following moderate severity myocardial infarction. With the use of small animal disease models in preclinical research, workers have acquired a large amount of information on the pathogenesis/progression of cardiovascular disease, which has aided the development of effective treatment options. These animal models are effective scientific tools to study the molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases, which potentially provide a powerful approach for discovering new drugs