Surgical Methods for Cardiac Gene Delivery in Large Animals.

This chapter describes main strategies of surgical gene delivery in large animals. Existing methods of cardiac gene transfer can be classified by the site of injection, interventional approach, and type of cardiac circulation at the time of transfer. Randomized clinical trials have suggested that the therapeutic benefits of gene therapy are not as substantial as expected from animal studies.

Inflammatory Responses with Left Ventricular Compromise after Induction of Myocardial Infarcts in Sheep (Ovis .

Ischemic myocardial disease is a major cause of death among humans worldwide; it results in scarring and pallor of the myocardium and triggers an inflammatory response that contributes to impaired left ventricular function. This response includes and is evidenced by the production of several inflammatory cytokines including TNFα, IL1β, IL4, IFNγ, IL10 and IL6. In the current study, myocardial infarcts were induced in 6 mo old male castrated sheep by ligation of the left circumflex obtuse marginal arteries (OM 1 and 2).

Scar Size and Other Parameters for Tracking Left Ventricular Dysfunction after Induction of Myocardial Infarcts in Sheep ().

In humans, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most frequent cause of death worldwide. Myocardial infarction (MI) is a leading cause of heart failure due to myocardial impairment, yet the progression of the resultant dysfunction is often undetected after incidental or induced myocardial infarction. In this study we tracked the progression of left-sided heart failure in 6-mo-old male castrated sheep in which we created 2 models of myocardial infarction, small and large.