Abstract #1623

Magnetic Resonance Molecular Imaging of Atherosclerotic Plaque in an Atherosclerosis Mouse Model

Xueming Wu¹, Niranjan Balu², Wen Li¹, Yong Chen¹, Xin Yu¹, Chun Yuan², Zheng-Rong Lu¹

¹Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States; ²Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seatle, WA, United States

This study designed, synthesized and evaluated a peptide-based low molecular weight MRI contrast agent specific to clotted plasma proteins for molecular imaging of atherosclerotic plaques with MRI. The atherosclerotic plaque imaging effectiveness of the targeted agent was demonstrated by using an atherosclerotic apolipoprotein Edeficient mouse model. Our preliminary results demonstrate that the newly developed targeted MRI contrast agent is promising for noninvasive assessment of plaque progression in an atherosclerotic mouse model.