Data Mining Based Establishment and Evaluation of Porcine Model for Syndrome in Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Context of Unstable Angina (Myocardial Ischemia)

Building an animal model for a disease is a better avenue not only to investigate the disease state in ways which would be inaccessible in human patients with the disease, but also to test new drug for the treatment of the disease. Unstable angina (UA) is a serious disease that causing more than 1 million deaths annually in China. It accounts for heavy burden not only on patients and their families but also on society. Therefore, an increasing number of UA patients pose a major challenge to the entire medical community. The animal model for UA is usually simulated by animal model for myocardial ischemia since the core pathology of UA is myocardial ischemia. There are three widely used methods to reproduce myocardial ischemia animal models: An occlusion of the coronary artery by microembolization, coronary artery ligation and Ameroid constrictor or coling/gelefoam [Monnet & Chachques, 2005].Among them, Ameroid constrictor is best fit to induce chronic myocardial ischemia when compared with other methods due to its progressive occlusion. Ameroid constrictors have been used in many species of animals. However, porcine hearts have a coronary anatomy most similar to the counterpart of human hearts. They seem to develop much less collateral circulation than dogs after induction of coronary occlusion, which makes them more attractive for the reproduction of chronic myocardial ischemia [Weaver et al., 1986].