Establishment and Evaluation of Extracorporeal Circulation Model in Rats

Objective To establish an extracorporeal circulation (ECC) rat model, and evaluate the inflammatory response and organ injury induced in the model. Methods SD rats were anesthetized and cannulated from right common carotid artery to left femoral vein to establish the bypass of extracorporeal circulation. Then the rats were randomly divided into ECC group and sham group. The rats in ECC group were subjected to extracorporeal circulation for 2 hours and then rest for 2 hours, while the rats in sham group were only observed for 4 hours without extracorporeal circulation. After that, blood routine examination, blood gas analysis, the measurement of pro-inflammatory factors in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and lung tissue were performed to evaluate the lung injury induced by ECC. Circulating endothelial cells were also calculated by flow cytometry to assess the vascular endothelial injury. Results At 2 hours after ECC, red blood cell counts in both groups kept normal, while leukocyte and neutrophil counts, plasmatic tumor necrosis factor-α level and neutrophil elastase level, circulating endothelial cells in the rats of ECC group were significantly higher than those in sham group. Tumor necrosis factor-α in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and water content in lung of the ECC rats were also significantly higher, while the oxygenation index was significantly lower. Neutrophil infiltration was also observed in lung tissues with increased thickness of alveolar membrane in ECC group. Conclusion The ECC model established from right common carotid artery to left femoral vein in our study can successfully induce systemic inflammatory response, and acute lung injury associated with inflammation.