A Human Ex Vivo Atherosclerotic Plaque Model to Study Lesion BiologyChristian Erbel *1, Deniz Okuyucu *1, Mohammadreza Akhavanpoor 1, Li Zhao 1, Susanne Wangler 1, Maani Hakimi 2, Andreas Doesch 1, Thomas J. Dengler 3, Hugo A. Katus 1, Christian A. Gleissner 1
1Department of Cardiology, University of Heidelberg, 2Department of Vascular Surgery, University of Heidelberg, 3Department of Cardiology, SLK Hospital am Plattenwald
Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory process. This manuscript illustrates an easy to use ex vivo model to investigate fresh carotid or coronary artery plaques. The ex vivo model allows for the investigation of potential substances on the inflammatory milieu in human atherosclerotic lesions and results can be analyzed by various methods.
