CRITERIA OF CHOICE OF A MODEL FOR EVALUAT ING ARTERIAL ANTITHROMBOTICTHERAPY

The use of models of experimental arterial thrombosis both in vivo and ex vivo in animals and ex vivo in humans is an obligatory step to the understanding of mechanisms involved in thrombogenesis as well as in the evaluation of anti-thrombotic therapeutics. Arterial thrombogenesi s is a complex phenomenon which involves multiple systems, mechanisms and parameters. Therefore studies of thrombogenesis from a pathologica l as well as a therapeutic point are necessary for understanding this problem in its entirety. For these reasons, it is necessary to use mod els as representative as possible of the human pathological condition. Besides these theoretical requirements, practical needs have also to be fulfilled (accessibility of the models, adaptation to the type of t he technique to different animal model and/or of the size of the anima l to the amount of molecule available, cost...) which necessary lead t o some promises. In this review we have tried to underline the criteri a for the choice, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the major models commonly accepted and used, in such a form that the read er who may not be an expert in the field would be led either to choose a particular model for a specific purpose or to appreciate a paper or a report based on an experimental model of arterial thrombosis. In vi tro models of arterial thrombosis are so far removed from reality and due to their nature can generate so much artifacts thus we have omitte d their discussion from this paper.