Myocardial-ischemic rats (MIR): Coronary vascular alteration induced by a lipid-rich diet☆

Abstract A new strain of rats in which there is a high incidence of heart failure (myocardial -ischemic rats: MIR) has been inbred in our laboratory from a substrain of stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SPSHR). The clinicopathological manifestations of MIR on a high-fat-cholesterol diet (HFCD) were found to be similar to those seen in ischemic heart disease (IHD) in man, in terms of vectorcardiographical (VCGcal) alterations, coronary fat deposition, thrombosis and resultant myocardial fibrosis. MIR should serve as a good experimental model of IHD.