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  • Clinical Techniques
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Anticoagulation therapy in animal research

Lab Animal volume 45, pages 431–432 (2016)Cite this article

Animal research protocols commonly require the use of anticoagulants in order to study a syndrome, prevent a common confounder, correct a spontaneous condition, or develop a novel treatment for humans. Anticoagulants are broadly categorized into key classes based on their conditions and indications for use as well as the limitations imparted by various laboratory animal species. There are, however, no established veterinary guidelines and no single regimen to attain satisfactory anticoagulant states, requiring dose extrapolation and pilot testing. This article describes common laboratory animal considerations for this important class of pharmaceuticals.

Anticoagulants are a mainstay of prophylactic stroke prevention in humans and an important pharmacologic in the armamentarium of clot prevention in humans and animals that receive medical devices. In research settings, anticoagulants are administered to animal models of human conditions when hypercoagulable states need to be avoided. Traditionally, antiplatelet regimens have provided important antithrombogenic prophylaxis in animal models of cardiovascular conditions such as ischemic heart disease and cerebral strokes. There is also enhanced awareness of their therapeutic properties in thrombogenic physiologic states that may confound experimental procedures. Antiplatelet therapy is commonly used following gastric bypass procedures and orthopedic fixation or repair, and is provisioned for prophylaxis of disseminated intravascular coagulopathies in experimentally induced septic crisis1,2,3,4,5.

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  1. Capital Preclinical Scientific Research Consultants, LLC, Bethesda, MD

    Victoria Hampshire (Column Editor)

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  1. Victoria Hampshire
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Correspondence to Victoria Hampshire.

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Hampshire, V. Anticoagulation therapy in animal research. Lab Anim 45, 431–432 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.1133

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