Yidong Yang1,2, Jimei Liu1, Yuhui
Yang1, Tom C.-C. Hu1,2
1Department of Radiology, Medical
College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, United States; 2Medical Physics
Program, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States
Inflammation
plays a pivotal role in the cardiac remodeling process following myocardial
infarction. Recently, it has been shown that inflammatory cells such as
macrophages can be labeled with micrometer-sized iron oxide particles (MPIO)
via systemic injection. After myocardial infarction, MPIO-labeled
inflammatory-cell infiltration at MI sites can be monitored using
T2*-weighted MRI. The purpose of this study is to investigate the
relationship between the injected MPIO dose and the signal attenuation
therefore to identify an optimal dose. This study will provide a valuable
method to track inflammatory cells, which can be applied in either
inflammation-related disease monitoring or drug development.