Background:
Peripheral arterial disease affects around 10-20% of people over 70 in western countries. Up to 30% of patients cannot benefit from current treatments, while a significant proportion of those who undergo surgery will eventually lose their extremity. More research in this field is therefore mandatory, and so are appropriate animal models.

Material and Methods:
Six adult and six young male Wag/RijCrl rats, and 19 BalbC mice were used. Under isoflurane anesthesia the common femoral artery was ligated. Capillary blood flow was assessed by means of a Laser Doppler (Oxford ArrayTM). Three different measurements were performed in each limb (ischaemic and control) just prior and after artery ligation, and there on every week. A group of young rats treated with CsA (10mg/k ip) received 700,000 mesenchymal stem cells or the solvent into the semimembranous muscle. After three weeks the animals were sacrificed and the semimembranous muscle was embedded in paraffin.

Result:
Following artery ligation, capillary blood flow dropped to 24%±7.1 in adult rats, while in younger animals it only fell to 41%±4.7. Two weeks later, capillary flow was partially recovered (41%±9.8 and 73%±7.3 respectively). In mice, capillary flow fell initially to 48%±18.2, recovering to 67%±29.3 after 21 days. Animals with mesenchymal stem cells showed increased blood flow on day 8th (125% vs 58%, p<0.001) and 15th (117% vs 73%, p<0.001).

Conclusion:
Chronic hindlimb ischemia was successfully developed in both animal models. Intramuscular injection of mesenchymal stem cells improved recovery of capillary blood flow following artery ligation.