Gradual narrowing and occlusion of a coronary artery in patients with atherosclerotic heart disease frequently causes enlargement of the collateral circulation. Although these vessels may protect from development of myocardial infarction, they frequently do not supply sufficient blood flow to prevent ischemia during periods of augmented myocardial oxygen demand. The purpose of this study was to develop a model of the collateral circulation in pigs, a species that previously has been shown to develop sparse collateral vessels. Eighteen pigs were instrumented with an Ameroid constrictor around the proximal left circumflex artery and left atrial and aortic catheters. In four animals the constrictor was placed just distal to a large proximal obtuse marginal vessel. Seven of the pigs were treated daily with oral aspirin (325 mg) and disopyramide (200 mg) throughout the study; the other 11 served as controls. After an average of 24 days postoperatively, radioactive microspheres were injected at rest, during exercise (mean heart rate = 245 beats/min), and during intravenous infusion of dypridamole (700 micrograms/kg). At autopsy the extent of necrosis was assessed by a point counting technique in the bed at risk. We found that 75-83% of the bed at risk remained viable. Although aspirin and disopyramide did not significantly alter the extent of infarction (37 +/- 36% untreated vs 17 +/- 6% treated), there was less variability of infarction in the treated group, and subendocardial blood flow during exercise was higher in the treated group compared to controls. The majority of infarction occurred in the subendocardial region. Animals with a large obtuse marginal branch developed significantly smaller infarcts (8 +/- 3%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)