Lisette H. Deddens1, Geralda A. F. Van Tilborg1, Annette Van der Toorn1, Willem J. M. Mulder2, Helga E. De Vries3, Rick M. Dijkhuizen1
1Biomedical MR Imaging and Spectroscopy Group, Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 2Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, United States; 3Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Vascular remodeling is a key process in stroke pathophysiology and plasticity. This abstract reports on a novel targeted contrast agent for MRI-based detection of the expression of the vascular marker PECAM-1. PECAM-1 is constitutively expressed on endothelium and regularly used as a target for histological vessel staining. We demonstrate that PECAM-1 mRNA and protein expression were highly increased in ipsilesional vessels as early as 24h after stroke in mice. MPIO targeted to PECAM-1 bound specifically to murine endothelial cells and significantly shortened the T2 of these cell samples compared to cells incubated with IgG-MPIO. PECAM-1-targeted MPIO may therefore provide a promising molecular MRI contrast agent to detect early stage vascular modifications after stroke.