Nivedita K. Naresh1, Alexander L. Klibanov1,2,
Moriel H. Vandsburger1,3, Jonathan Leor4, Yaqin Xu1,
Brent A. French1,5, Frederick H. Epstein1,5
1Department of Biomedical
Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States; 2Division
of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA,
United States; 3Department of Biological Regulation, Weizmann
Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; 4Tel-Aviv University,
Israel; 5Department of Radiology, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, VA, United States
Macrophages play a number of critical roles in the wound healing response that follows myocardial infarction (MI). Two days prior to MI (day -2), we labeled macrophages in vivo using intravenous liposomes containing gadolinium. MRI R1-mapping of the heart and spleen was performed at days -3 (baseline) and -1 (1 day post-injection of Gd-liposomes) before MI, and at days 1, 4 and 7 post-MI. R1 mapping after monocyte labeling detected the time-course of macrophage infiltration of the infarcted anterolateral wall after MI, including their arrival, peak, and departure.