Improving frequency of thrombosis by altering blood flow in the carrageenan-induced rat tail thrombosis model

The carrageenan-induced tail thrombosis model in rats and mouse is useful for evaluating compounds having antithrombotic effects in drug discovery projects as an in vivo model. However, the frequency of thrombosis is low, and the signs of thrombosis are not constant under the standard conditions. In this study, we modified this model on the basis of hypercoagulability, endothelial injury, and alteration in the normal blood flow. The simple ligation to alter blood flow in rats significantly improved the frequency and signs of thrombosis after intravenous κ-carrageenan injection. In particular, 1 mg/kg κ-carrageenan injection in combination with 10 min ligation at the tail increased the frequency of thrombosis to almost 100% in rats. These results suggest that this modified model has great advantages over the previously used conditions for evaluating the effects of antithrombotic and thrombolytic agents.