Murine models of thrombosis and hemostasis

Abstract

The study of thrombosis and hemostasis has greatly benefited from the development and application of murine models. Thrombosis models have been designed for applications to venous, arterial, and microvascular blood clotting. Common vessels include the infrarenal vena cava, the carotid artery, and several microvessel sites based on thin tissue layers. Methods of analysis range from simple weight/length measurements or time for an occlusive thrombus to grow to more sophisticated intravital fluorescence imaging over time using fluorophore-labeled, thrombus-targeting molecules and cells. Hemostasis models have focused on tail resection designs, to measure the time to hemostatic achievement or collection of blood to measure total volume of blood lost. Other hemostatic models have been designed around injury/transection of the saphenous vein. These many models have been applied with high success to a large variety of transgenic and knockout mouse lines, to determine gene-specific effects on blood clotting under various conditions. Future studies will benefit from appropriate model selection, matching the specific model to the research question.