The rat carotid balloon injury model described below allows researchers to evaluate drugs or therapeutics that negate injury-induced arterial hyperplasia. Detailed pre-surgical preparation, surgical procedure, and post-surgical cares of the animal are described.
This protocol uses a probe-based real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay, 3’ untranslated regions (3’ UTR) cloning, and a luciferase assay to verify the target genes of a miRNA of interest and to understand the functions of miRNAs.