Atherosclerotic Plaques MRI Detection in ApoE -/- Mice Using the Blood Pool Agent B22956/1

Claudia Cabella¹, Giulia Chiesa², Vito Lorusso¹, Alessandro Maiocchi¹, Marta Marchesi², Luigi Miragoli¹, Cinzia Parolini², Luisa Poggi¹, Fabio Tedoldi¹, Fulvio Uggeri¹, Giovanni Valbusa¹

Development of new, non-invasive, diagnostic tools aimed to detect the occurrence of atherosclerotic plaques is a primary task in medical research, due to the impact of atherosclerosis-induced diseases on the world population health. In this study, using ApoE -/- mice as animal model and hystologic analysis as reference standard, we showed that the use of the blood pool contrast agent B22956/1 strongly improves the sensitivity of MRI in detecting spontaneously occurring human-like atherosclerotic lesions, thanks to the strong albumin binding of this molecule, which increases the intravascular persisting time and thus the chance to permeate altered endothelial tissues.