Rajesh Dash1,2, Trevor Chan2, Mayumi Yamada2, Marietta Paningbatan1,3, Philip Swigart1,3, Bat-Erdene Myagmar1, Paul C. Simpson1,3, Phillip C. Yang2
1Medicine, UCSF, San Francisco, CA, USA; 2Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 3San Francisco VAMC
Early, non-invasive detection of cell death in ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy could play a critical role in expanding therapeutic options. Purified Annexin V (ANX) protein was labeled with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO), and this conjugate compound was previously shown to bind to apoptotic cardiomyocytes in culture with high specificity and sensitivity. In this study, systemically-delivered ANX-SPIO is detectable by T2 cardiac MRI in the myocardium following ischemic and oxidative insults. These results suggest that future non-invasive, longitudinal monitoring of cardiac cell death is possible using MRI and magnetic contrast particle labeling.