The transposition of experimental models to clinical situations in the atherothrombosis field will be illustrated by two examples: in one hand, the steps of the discovery of drugs such as ticlopidine and clopidogrel, the identification of their molecular targets on blood platelets and the pharmacological consequences of these developments; on the other hand, the setting up of a model of localized arterial thrombosis in mice, with two degrees of severity which react differentially to antithrombotic drugs. The main features of these models will be compared to clinical situations such as unstable angina and myocardial infarction.