PET/CT Imaging in Mouse Models of Myocardial Ischemia

Abstract

Different species have been used to reproduce myocardial infarction models but in the last years mice became the animals of choice for the analysis of several diseases, due to their short life cycle and the possibility of genetic manipulation. Many techniques are currently used for cardiovascular imaging in mice, including X-ray computed tomography (CT), high-resolution ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, and nuclear medicine procedures. Cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) allows to examine noninvasively, on a molecular level and with high sensitivity, regional changes in myocardial perfusion, metabolism, apoptosis, inflammation, and gene expression or to measure changes in anatomical and functional parameters in heart diseases. Currently hybrid PET/CT scanners for small laboratory animals are available, where CT adds high-resolution anatomical information. This paper reviews mouse models of myocardial infarction and discusses the applications of dedicated PET/CT systems technology, including animal preparation, anesthesia, radiotracers, and images postprocessing.

Development of 68Ga‐labeled fatty acids for their potential use in cardiac metabolic imaging

“…The success of any diagnostic strategy relies on the quantity of radioactivity that can be accumulated in the target tissue and on its rapid clearance from the other non‐target organs. The uptake and intracellular trafficking or metabolism of the fatty acid complexes in myocardium appear to be a complex process depending on a number of variables such as the chain length of the fatty acid, lipophilicity of the overall complex, and the chelating moiety used for the synthesis as well as radiolabeling …”

Imaging the healing murine myocardial infarct in vivo: ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging and fluorescence molecular tomography

“…Uptake of fluorodeoxyglucose by metabolically active cells is used as a means to discriminate metabolically inactive infarct tissue using positron emission tomography (Gargiulo et al 2012), and detection of non‐perfused infarcted myocardium by microbubble contrast agents is also feasible with ultrasound (Raher et al 2007). Alternatively, troponin I, released by injured cardiomyocytes into the plasma, can be assayed using a small (100 μl) tail vein sample collected 24 h after MI, providing a good estimation of injury that correlates well with histological and in vivo imaging methods.…”

Ultra-rapid non-invasive clinical nano-diagnostic of inflammatory diseases

“…Imaging moleculeassociated endothelial activation for example after a high shear stress 14,15 is applied, showed a high application potential towards detection of earlier atherosclerotic lesions. Other classical methods have known huge development, as positron emission tomography imaging 16 , computer tomography or magnetic resonance imaging 17,18 . For instance, most electron microscopes investigate the morphology of delicate specimens under vacuum, after staining with a heavy metal compound such as osmium tetroxide or uranyl acetate.…”