Rat Coronary Artery Ligation Myocardial Infarction Model

Myocardial infarction was created in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 36) by coronary artery ligation¹⁶ via the use of protocols approved by the Baylor College of Medicine Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Four animals (11%) died after the coronary ligation. Three weeks after coronary ligation and direct myocardial administration of Ad- vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF; 1 × 10⁹ pu), a cocktail of Ad or lentiviruses encoding Gata4, Mef2c, or Tbx5 (AdGMT or LentiGMT, respectively), or AdNull (1 × 10⁹ pu for AdGMT and AdNull, 1 × 10⁵ TU for LentiGMT) was administered by direct myocardial injection, as previously described.¹⁶ The rats were euthanized 4 weeks later by deep (4%) isoflurane anesthesia followed by exsanguination, consistent with the guidelines of the American Veterinary Medical Association.