阅读说明：本技术 一种动脉粥样硬化斑块模型及其制备方法 (Atherosclerotic plaque model and preparation method thereof ) 是由 周建华 林钊溢 李燕 于 2021-06-28 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种动脉粥样硬化斑块模型及其制备方法。本发明制备得到的动脉粥样硬化斑块模型以琼脂层来模拟血管外部组织结构、以具有联通孔洞结构的硅橡胶块来模拟动脉粥样硬化斑块、以塑料管在琼脂层和具有连通孔洞的硅橡胶块中形成的管道模拟动脉血管。该斑块模型模拟了血管结构与动脉粥样硬化斑块的连通孔洞结构,制备周期短,费用低,且可用于快速评价超声成像仪器、造影剂的性能等。(The invention discloses an atherosclerotic plaque model and a preparation method thereof. The atherosclerotic plaque model prepared by the invention simulates the external tissue structure of a blood vessel by an agar layer, simulates atherosclerotic plaque by a silicon rubber block with a communicated hole structure, and simulates an arterial blood vessel by a pipeline formed by a plastic pipe in the agar layer and the silicon rubber block with the communicated holes. The plaque model simulates a communicated hole structure of a blood vessel structure and an atherosclerotic plaque, has short preparation period and low cost, and can be used for rapidly evaluating the performance of an ultrasonic imaging instrument, a contrast agent and the like.)

1. The utility model provides an atherosclerosis plaque model, its characterized in that includes the model main part and sets up at the outside hydrogel layer of model main part, wherein model main part inside has the cavity, and the cavity is UNICOM's hole structure, atherosclerosis plaque model still is provided with the tubular channel structure who link up main part and outside hydrogel layer, tubular channel structure is linked together with the cavity.

2. The atherosclerotic plaque model of claim 1 wherein said model body is a hydrogel, rubber or plastic material.

3. The atherosclerotic plaque model of claim 1 wherein said outer hydrogel layer is an agar hydrogel layer.

4. A method for preparing an atherosclerotic plaque model, comprising the steps of:

s1, embedding a hollow pipe in solid particles, enabling the middle of the hollow pipe to be located inside the solid particles, and enabling two ends of the hollow pipe to be located outside the solid particles;

s2, placing the solid particles and the hollow pipe in an organic solvent solution containing 3-6% (w/v) gelatin, keeping two ends of the hollow pipe outside the organic solvent solution containing 3-6% (w/v) gelatin, and ensuring that all gaps are filled with the organic solvent solution containing 3-6% (w/v) gelatin;

s3, removing the organic solvent to obtain solid particle adhesive blocks for embedding the hollow tubes;

s4, placing the solid particle bonding block embedding the hollow tube in a curing reaction system, keeping two ends of the hollow tube outside the curing reaction system, performing vacuum treatment until the curing reaction system completely permeates into the solid particle bonding block, and removing all bubbles in the curing reaction system;

s5, carrying out curing reaction on a curing reaction system to obtain a curing block containing solid particle adhesion block adhesion patches embedded in the hollow tube;

s6, placing the solidified block containing the solid particle adhesion block adhesion patch embedded in the hollow tube in 1-3% (w/v) agarose solution, so that the periphery of the solidified block containing the solid particle adhesion block adhesion patch is wrapped by 1-3% (w/v) agarose solution, and two ends of the hollow tube are kept outside the 1-3% (w/v) agarose solution;

s7, removing the hollow pipe after agarose is solidified to obtain a solidified block which contains the solid particle adhesion plaque and is wrapped with an agarose layer and contains a tubular channel;

and S8, adding pure water into the tubular channel, dissolving solid particles, and washing away the solid particles to obtain the water-soluble organic silicon material.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein in step S5, the product of the curing reaction is an organic high molecular polymer material.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the solid particles are water-soluble solid particles.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein in step S3, the solvent is dried to evaporate off the organic solvent.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the hollow tube has an outer diameter of 2cm or less.

9. A model of atherosclerotic plaque prepared by the method of any one of claims 5 to 8.

10. Use of the atherosclerotic plaque model of claim 1 or 9 for the evaluation of ultrasound instrumentation or contrast agents.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of disease models, in particular to an atherosclerotic plaque model and a preparation method thereof.

Background

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a disease that seriously compromises human health, with vulnerable plaques being the underlying disease of acute coronary syndromes AS well AS cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In most western countries, atherosclerosis has become the leading cause of disease and death. The morbidity of the traditional Chinese medicine is on the trend of increasing year by year, and the traditional Chinese medicine is also one of the main diseases causing the death of patients. Therefore, research on the pathogenesis and the diagnosis and treatment methods of AS has become a hot research spot at home and abroad.

Studies have shown that acute cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (such as stroke) are mainly caused by vulnerable plaques in arteries, and have no direct relationship with the degree of stenosis. Therefore, the vulnerability assessment of atherosclerotic plaques is the focus of current research. The traditional imaging technology, such as ultrasound, has high value in the aspects of evaluating the stenosis degree of blood vessels, plaque morphology and the like, and provides good objective basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis. These evaluations, however, reflect the ultimate effect of the biological changes in the lesion and do not effectively reflect and predict the progression and changes of the lesion in real time. Although clinical research on atherosclerotic plaques has accumulated a certain result, due to the particularity of the plaques, the traditional ultrasonic imaging method has certain insecurity, and meanwhile, whether the plaques are vulnerable or not can not be quickly judged, the progress and change of lesions can not be effectively reflected and predicted in real time, and the requirements of clinical prediction of lesion occurrence, guidance of individualized treatment, evaluation of the curative effect of novel medicaments and the like cannot be met.

Although scholars at home and abroad already construct a large number of atherosclerosis animal models, the animal models have limitations. The experimental animal model simulates and replicates the human clinical disease manifestation in the animal body, so the ideal animal model disease manifestation must be consistent with the human clinical symptoms. However, animal models show some disease symptoms that differ from human clinical symptoms due to species differences from animal to human. While a cholesterol-containing diet is a common method for constructing animal models of atherosclerosis, most species can cause hypercholesterolemia after a cholesterol-containing diet. Meanwhile, the cost for constructing the animal model is expensive, the supply is difficult, the period is long, and the experimental requirement is difficult to meet.

Chinese patent CN202022039242.5 discloses an atherosclerotic blood vessel model, which adopts silica gel and silica gel as main materials, adds different additive materials, and prints the atherosclerotic blood vessel model containing pathological structures such as fatty plaque, calcified plaque, fibrous cap and the like by 3D printing technology, but it is only suitable for interventional operation demonstration and training practice. It does not mimic the structure of blood vessels and atherosclerotic plaques and cannot be used for rapid assessment of ultrasound instruments, contrast agents, etc.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to overcome the defects in the prior art and provides an atherosclerotic plaque model and a preparation method thereof.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention is realized by the following scheme:

it is a first object of the present invention to provide an atherosclerotic plaque model.

A second object of the invention is to provide a method for preparing an atherosclerotic plaque model.

The third purpose of the invention is to provide the atherosclerotic plaque model prepared by the preparation method.

A fourth object of the invention is to provide the use of the atherosclerotic plaque model for evaluating the performance of an ultrasound imaging apparatus or a contrast agent.

The invention claims an atherosclerotic plaque model, which comprises a model main body and an external hydrogel layer arranged outside the model main body, wherein a cavity is formed in the model main body, the cavity is a communicated hole structure, the atherosclerotic plaque model is also provided with a tubular channel structure which penetrates through the main body and the external hydrogel layer, and the tubular channel structure is communicated with the cavity.

Preferably, the mould body is of hydrogel, rubber or plastics material.

Preferably, the outer hydrogel layer is an agar hydrogel layer.

The invention also claims a preparation method of the atherosclerotic plaque model, which comprises the following steps:

s1, embedding a hollow pipe in solid particles, enabling the middle of the hollow pipe to be located inside the solid particles, and enabling two ends of the hollow pipe to be located outside the solid particles;

s2, placing the solid particles and the hollow pipe in an organic solvent solution containing 3-6% (w/v) gelatin, keeping two ends of the hollow pipe outside the organic solvent solution containing 3-6% (w/v) gelatin, and ensuring that all gaps are filled with the organic solvent solution containing 3-6% (w/v) gelatin, preferably, the concentration of the gelatin in the organic solvent solution of the gelatin is 5% (w/v);

s3, removing the organic solvent of the solvent, and forming a gelatin layer on the surface of the solid particles embedded with the hollow tubes to obtain solid particle adhesive blocks embedded with the hollow tubes;

s4, placing the solid particle bonding block embedding the hollow tube in a curing reaction system, keeping two ends of the hollow tube outside the curing reaction system, performing vacuum treatment until the curing reaction system completely permeates into the solid particle bonding block, and removing all bubbles in the curing reaction system;

s5, carrying out curing reaction on a curing reaction system to obtain a curing block containing solid particle adhesion block adhesion patches embedded in the hollow tube;

s6, placing the solidified block containing the solid particle adhesion block adhesion patch embedded in the hollow tube in 1-3% (w/v) agarose solution, so that the periphery of the solidified block containing the solid particle adhesion block adhesion patch is wrapped by 1-3% (w/v) agarose solution, and two ends of the hollow tube are kept outside the 1-3% (w/v) agarose solution, preferably, the concentration of agarose in the agarose solution is 1%;

s7, removing the hollow pipe after agarose is solidified to obtain a solidified block which contains the solid particle adhesion plaque and is wrapped with an agarose layer and contains a tubular channel;

and S8, adding pure water into the tubular channel, dissolving solid particles, and washing away the solid particles to obtain the water-soluble organic silicon material.

In the present manufacturing method, in step S2, the gelatin concentration in the organic solvent solution of gelatin may affect the blocking condition of the solid particles: too low a concentration of gelatin (less than 3%) results in the failure of the solid particles to adhere; too high a concentration of gelatin (above 5%) may result in too thick a gelatin layer, which may affect the utility of subsequently prepared atherosclerotic plaque models.

Preferably, in step S2, the organic solvent is a volatile organic solvent (including but not limited to hexafluoroisopropanol, 2,2, 2-trifluoroethanol, etc.) so that the solvent is removed by drying volatilization to form a gelatin layer.

In a specific embodiment, the volatile organic solvent is hexafluoroisopropanol.

In the present production method, in step S3, the solvent organic solvent is removed by drying and volatilization. In the process, the gelatin layer may crack, but the gelatin layer is in the organic solvent solution of gelatin with specific concentration, so that the use effect of the subsequently prepared atherosclerotic plaque model is not influenced.

In the present manufacturing method, in step S8, the gelatin layer formed on the surface of the solid particles embedding the hollow tube is removed together with the solid particles being dissolved and washed away.

Preferably, the solid particles are 40 mesh to 80 mesh.

Preferably, in step S5, the product of the curing reaction is an organic high molecular polymer material, such as hydrogel, rubber or plastic. Thus, in step S4, the curing reaction system is a reaction system required for synthesizing a product of the curing reaction.

More preferably, in step S5, the product of the curing reaction is rubber.

In a specific embodiment, in step S5, the product of the curing reaction is silicone rubber, and in step S4, the curing reaction system is a mixture of basic components and a curing agent of dow corning SYLGARD 184 silicone rubber, wherein the mass ratio of the basic components to the curing agent is 10: 1, the curing reaction is carried out for 2 hours at 60 ℃.

Preferably, the solid particles are water-soluble solid particles.

More preferably, the water-soluble solid particles are sodium chloride particles.

Preferably, the hollow tube is of elastomeric material.

Preferably, the hollow tube is made of an organic high molecular polymer material, such as hydrogel, rubber or plastic.

More preferably, the hollow tube is of a plastics material.

In one embodiment, the hollow tube is a polytetrafluoroethylene material.

Preferably, the outer diameter of the hollow tube is less than or equal to 2 cm.

More preferably, the plastic tube has an outer diameter of 5 mm.

The atherosclerotic plaque model prepared by any one of the preparation methods also belongs to the protection scope of the invention.

The application of the atherosclerotic plaque model in evaluating an ultrasonic instrument or a contrast agent also belongs to the protection scope of the invention.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects:

the invention prepares an atherosclerotic plaque model. The atherosclerotic plaque model prepared by the invention simulates the external tissue structure of a blood vessel by using an agar layer, simulates atherosclerotic plaque by using a silicon rubber block with a communicated hole structure, and simulates an arterial blood vessel by using a capillary tube in a tubular channel formed by the silicon rubber block with the communicated hole structure wrapped by the agar layer. The plaque model simulates a communicated pore structure of a blood vessel structure and an atherosclerotic plaque, has short preparation period and low cost, and can be used for rapidly evaluating ultrasonic instruments, contrast agents and the like.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for preparing an atherosclerotic plaque model.

Fig. 2 is a graph of the permeability of porous PDMS plaques to water.

Figure 3 is an OCT image of a porous PDMS plaque.

Fig. 4 is an SEM image of porous PDMS plaques.

FIG. 5 is an ultrasound contrast image of an atherosclerotic plaque model.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings and specific examples, which are provided for illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. The test methods used in the following examples are all conventional methods unless otherwise specified; the materials, reagents and the like used are, unless otherwise specified, commercially available reagents and materials.

Example 1A method for preparing an atherosclerotic plaque model

First, experiment method (the flow is as shown in figure 1)

(1) Under a dry environment, the sodium chloride particles are ground and sieved, and solid sodium chloride particles which can pass through a 40-mesh sieve but can not pass through an 80-mesh sieve are selected.

(2) Under the dry environment, the container is filled with sieved sodium chloride particles, the filling is ensured to be tight, the middle part of a plastic pipe is embedded in the sodium chloride particles, two ends of the inner part of the sodium chloride particles are exposed outside the sodium chloride particles, and the outer diameter of the plastic pipe is 5mm and is made of polytetrafluoroethylene materials.

(3) A solution of Hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) containing 5% (w/v) gelatin was added dropwise to the vessel filled with solid particles of sodium chloride until the solution of Hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) containing 5% (w/v) gelatin completely lacked the sodium chloride particles and all voids were guaranteed to be filled with a solution of Hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) containing 5% (w/v) gelatin and the solution of Hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) containing 5% (w/v) gelatin did not flood both ends of the plastic tube.

(4) And (3) placing the container containing the sodium chloride particles in the previous step in a dry and ventilated environment until the HFIP solvent is completely volatilized, and covering a layer of dry gelatin (gelatin layer) on the surface of the sodium chloride solid particles to enable all the sodium chloride solid particles to be integrated under the action of the gelatin layer, so that the sodium chloride adhesive block for embedding the plastic tube is obtained.

(5) Moving the sodium chloride adhesive block embedded in the plastic pipe into another larger container, adding a pre-configured crosslinking reaction system into the container, so that the crosslinking reaction system completely submerges the sodium chloride adhesive block but does not submerge two ends of the plastic pipe, and then performing vacuum treatment for 30min to ensure that the crosslinking reaction system completely infiltrates into the inside of the sodium chloride adhesive block and remove all air bubbles, wherein the crosslinking reaction system is a mixture of basic components of Dow Corning SYLGARD 184 silicon rubber and a curing agent, and the mass ratio of the basic components to the curing agent is 10: 1.

(6) and placing the vacuum-treated system in a 60 ℃ oven for 2 hours to obtain the cross-linked silicone rubber containing sodium chloride adhesion plaques for embedding the plastic tube.

(7) And cutting the silicon rubber containing the sodium chloride adhesion patches embedded in the plastic tube into blocks, and cutting the silicon rubber into cuboids with the length of 8mm and the width of 6mm, so that the sodium chloride adhesion patches are positioned in the center of the blocks, and the silicon rubber blocks containing the sodium chloride adhesion patches embedded in the plastic tube are obtained.

(8) Placing the silicon rubber block which is embedded in the plastic tube and contains the sodium chloride adhesion patch in 1% (w/v) agarose solution at about 50 ℃, ensuring that the periphery of the silicon rubber block is wrapped by the agarose solution, preventing two ends of the plastic tube from being submerged, and containing the agarose solution in the lumen of the plastic tube until the agarose solution is solidified.

(9) Removing the plastic pipe to obtain a silicon rubber block which contains a tubular channel and is wrapped with an agar layer and contains sodium chloride adhesion plaques, adding pure water into the tubular channel to dissolve sodium chloride particles, and washing away sodium chloride to obtain the silicon rubber block which contains the tubular channel and is wrapped with the agar layer and has a communicated hole structure, and an atherosclerotic plaque model.

Second, experimental results

By the method, an atherosclerotic plaque model can be successfully prepared.

Example 2 detection of atherosclerotic plaque model

Permeability test

1. Experimental methods

A piece of pure silicone rubber block, a piece of silicone rubber block containing sodium chloride adhesion plaque (a part without a plastic tube, namely, only a part of silicone rubber block containing sodium chloride adhesion plaque) of the embedded plastic tube prepared in the preparation process of example 1, a piece b, and an atherosclerotic plaque model (a part without a tubular channel and a wrapped agar layer, namely, only a part of silicone rubber block with a communicated hole structure) prepared in example 1, and a piece c are respectively placed on a piece of filter paper.

And respectively dripping 1 drop of rhodamine dye solution on each block body. And observing the permeation of each sample to water.

2. Results of the experiment

The water permeability of each PDMS block is shown in fig. 2 (left panel before dye solution is dropped, right panel after dye solution is dropped), and as can be seen from the figures before and after dye solution is dropped, the dye solution cannot permeate the block a, but only slightly permeate the block b, and can completely permeate the block b and wet the filter paper. The results demonstrate that the atherosclerotic plaque model prepared in example 1 has good connectivity.

Binary, optical coherence tomography analysis

1. Experimental methods

The connectivity of the pore structure of the atherosclerotic plaque model prepared in example 1 (with the portion not containing the tubular channels and the encapsulating agar layer, i.e. with only the portion of the silicone rubber mass having a communicating pore structure) was observed using OCT.

2. Results of the experiment

The OCT image shows the internal microstructure and the cross-sectional structure of the atherosclerotic plaque model prepared in example 1 (see FIG. 3), wherein a is a real image, b is a cross-sectional image, and c and d are perspective views at different angles. Panel b shows the atherosclerotic plaque model with an interconnected pore structure within.

Analysis by scanning electron microscope

1. Experimental methods

Connectivity of pore structure of atherosclerotic plaque models prepared using SEM example 1 (taking portions without tubular channels and encapsulated agar layers, i.e. only the silicone rubber block portion with interconnected pore structures).

2. Results of the experiment

SEM images show the cross-sectional structure of the atherosclerotic plaque model prepared in example 1 (see FIG. 4). The image shows that cavities with similar properties to those of sodium chloride particles are formed in the atherosclerotic plaque model and are communicated with each other, which indicates that the atherosclerotic plaque model has a communicated hole structure.

EXAMPLE 3 ultrasound contrast testing of atherosclerotic plaque model

First, experiment method

An ultrasonic imaging test was performed on the atherosclerotic plaque model prepared in example 1 using an ultrasonic apparatus, and the difference between the ultrasonic images before and after the addition of the ultrasonic contrast agent was observed.

Second, experimental results

An ultrasound contrast image of the atherosclerotic plaque model is shown in FIG. 5, in which FIGS. 5a (coronal) and 5b (sagittal) are ultrasound contrast images without the addition of ultrasound contrast agent, and FIGS. 5c (coronal) and 5d (sagittal) are ultrasound contrast images with the addition of ultrasound contrast agent.

Example 1 the resulting atherosclerotic plaque model was prepared by simulating the outer tissue structure of a blood vessel with an agar layer, the atherosclerotic plaque with a silicone rubber block having a communicating pore structure, and the arterial blood vessel with a plastic tube in a tubular channel formed by a silicone rubber block having a communicating pore structure wrapped with an agar layer.

The graphs a and b show that when no ultrasonic contrast agent is added, no obvious boundary exists between an agar layer and a tubular channel in the atherosclerotic plaque model, a silicon rubber block with a hole structure is white virtual image under ultrasound, and a boundary with the tubular channel is obvious.

The graphs c and d show that the ultrasonic contrast intensity of the ultrasonic contrast agent is slightly higher than that of the silicon rubber block with the hole structure when the ultrasonic contrast agent is added.

By comparing ultrasonic contrast images without the addition of the ultrasonic contrast agent with ultrasonic contrast images with the addition of the ultrasonic contrast agent, the fact that the ultrasonic contrast intensity of the atherosclerotic plaque model with the addition of the ultrasonic contrast agent is obviously stronger than that of the atherosclerotic plaque model without the addition of the ultrasonic contrast agent can be seen, and the model has the capability of primarily evaluating the ultrasonic contrast agent.

It should be finally noted that the above examples are only intended to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, and not to limit the scope of the present invention, and that other variations and modifications based on the above description and thought may be made by those skilled in the art, and that all embodiments need not be exhaustive. Any modification, equivalent replacement, and improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the claims of the present invention.