The purposes of these studies were to produce a small animal model of arterial thrombosis for study of novel antithrombotic agents, to validate a simple temperature index of occlusive thrombosis, and to describe the composition of the thrombus. Small thermocouple transducers were fabricated from readily available materials. A thermocouple was inserted under a carotid artery of the anesthetized rat and vessel temperature was recorded continuously. Arterial injury was induced by FeCl3 solution applied topically to the artery above the thermocouple. To validate the relationship between thrombotic occlusion and vessel temperature, blood flow velocity, proximal to the injury, and temperature were recorded simultaneously. Temperature decreased rapidly when velocity averaged 24 +/- 12 percent of control and velocity did not differ from zero within 20 sec. In normal vessels, average flow velocity did not decrease significantly from control until a fixed stenosis decreased diameter by 78 percent. Average time to occlusion (TTO), signaled by the abrupt temperature inflection, ranged from 56 +/- 4 min to 14 +/- 1 min after 10 and 65 percent FeCl3 application respectively. Vessel segments were fixed at various times after FeCl3 exposure and examined by scanning electron microscopy. Endothelial damage was observed and was associated with thrombus composed of activated platelets, fibrin strands and entrapped erythrocytes. The results demonstrate that FeCl3 dose-dependently induced formation of an occlusive mixed thrombus that was indexed by monitoring the time between FeCl3 application and a rapid temperature decrease in the carotid artery of the rat.