Rat Common Carotid Artery Balloon Injury Model

Animal studies were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees of the Atlanta University Center and Emory University, and conformed to the NIH guidelines (Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals). We performed balloon injury of the common carotid artery as previously described.²⁰ Briefly, male Sprague-Dawley rats (350–400 g) were anesthetized with an intraperitoneal injection of ketamine (150 mg/kg) and xylazine (20 mg/kg). A Fogarty 2F balloon embolectomy catheter was introduced through the right femoral artery and advanced into the aorta and left common carotid artery until its bifurcation. The balloon was then inflated and withdrawn to the proximal end of the common carotid artery. This procedure was repeated 3 times. Carotid arteries from treatment-naive animals were used as controls.