Establishment of a rat and guinea pig aortic interposition graft model reveals model-specific patterns of intimal hyperplasia

Peripheral arterial disease affects ∼8.5 million Americans and can require open surgical bypass grafting. However, vein is often not suitable or available, and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene continues to have poor infrapopliteal patency rates, necessitating the development of alternative graft materials. Although the aortic interposition graft model has been widely used to investigate new materials, the literature lacks a comprehensive description of this model. This report summarizes current approaches of aortic interposition grafting described in the literature, validates an aortic interposition bypass model in the rat and guinea pig, and compares the pattern of intimal hyperplasia that results from each species.