Nivedita Naresh1, Moriel Vandsburger1,
Alexander Klibanov, 12, Patrick Antkowiak1, Yaqin Xu1,
Brent A. French1,3, Frederick H. Epstein1,3
1Biomedical Engineering, University of
Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States; 2Division of
Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Virginia; 3Department of
Radiology, University of Virginia
Macrophages
play the critical role of clearing necrotic debris in the wound healing
response that follows myocardial infarction (MI). Two days after MI, we
labeled macrophages in vivo using intravenous liposomes containing
gadolinium. On day 5 after MI,
cardiorespiratory-gated (CRG) Look-Locker MRI of the heart quantified T1
shortening of the infarct zone secondary to infiltration of the labeled
macrophages. The T1 shortening effect
was dependent upon the dose of liposomes.
Macrophage labeling with Gd-liposomes and T1-mapping with CRG
Look-Locker imaging may prove useful for quantitative MRI of post-MI
macrophage infiltration in preclinical murine studies.