Noninvasive photoacoustic computed tomography/ultrasound imaging to identify high-risk atherosclerotic plaques

被引：7

作者：

Liu, Xuewei ^{[1
]}

Gao, Rongkang ^{[2
]}

Chen, Chiyun ^{[3
]}

Li, Xiaobo ^{[1
]}

Yu, Chen ^{[1
]}

Chen, Yejia ^{[1
]}

Liang, Hongbin ^{[1
]}

Xiao, Min ^{[1
]}

Dai, Lei ^{[1
]}

Qiu, Shifeng ^{[1
]}

Xin, Xiaoyu ^{[1
]}

Song, Liang ^{[2
]}

Liu, Jinbin ^{[3
]}

Liu, Chengbo ^{[2
]}

Xiu, Jiancheng ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Southern Med Univ, Nanfang Hosp, Dept Cardiol, State Key Lab Organ Failure Res, Guangzhou, Peoples R China

[2] Chinese Acad Sci, Shenzhen Inst Adv Technol, Res Lab Biomed Opt & Mol Imaging, CAS Key Lab Hlth Informat, Shenzhen, Guangdong, Peoples R China

[3] South China Univ Technol, Sch Chem & Chem Engn, Key Lab Funct Mol Engn Guangdong Prov, Guangzhou, Guangdong, Peoples R China

来源：

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND MOLECULAR IMAGING | 2022年 / 49卷 / 13期

基金：

中国国家自然科学基金;

关键词：

High-risk atherosclerotic plaque; Photoacoustic computed tomography; Molecular imaging; alpha v beta 3-integrin; Gold nanorods; GOLD NANORODS; VIVO; ANGIOGENESIS; ULTRASOUND; EXPRESSION; THERAPY;

D O I：

10.1007/s00259-022-05911-9

中图分类号：

R8 [特种医学]; R445 [影像诊断学];

学科分类号：

1002 ; 100207 ; 1009 ;

摘要：

Purpose Noninvasive detection of high-risk plaques is still challenging. In this study, we aimed to noninvasively assess alpha v beta 3-integrin expression using a customed photoacoustic (PA) computed tomography (PACT)/ultrasound (US) system in atherosclerotic lesions of varying degrees of severity and to explore its potential value for detecting high-risk plaques. Methods We constructed alpha v beta 3-integrin-targeted ultrasmall gold nanorods (AuNRs) with cyclo Arg-Gly-Asp (cRGD) and tested their properties. Employing C57BL/6 J (wild-type, WT) mice and apolipoprotein E gene knockout (ApoE(-/-)) mice fed either a chow diet or a high-fat/high-cholesterol diet (HFHCD), we established varying degrees of lesion severity. In vivo PACT/US imaging was performed to assess alpha v beta 3-integrin expression in the 4 groups by cRGD-AuNRs. Further histopathologic examination was conducted to evaluate the plaque vulnerability indicators. Results The data showed that cRGD-AuNRs exhibited excellent photothermal conversion capacity, stability, targeting ability, and biocompatibility. The immunohistochemical results indicated that alpha v beta 3-integrin was upregulated with increasing aggravation of the lesions. In vivo PACT/US imaging showed good consistency with alpha v beta 3-integrin expression. Notably, ApoE(-/-) mice fed a HFHCD showed an abrupt PA intensity increase compared with the other groups. The histopathologic examination verified that the atherosclerotic plaques of ApoE(-/-) mice fed the HFHCD developed unstable phenotypes. Correlation analysis showed that PA intensity was mainly related to inflammation and angiogenesis among all of the indicators. Conclusion Our data indicated that alpha v beta 3-integrin is an effective indicator of plaque instability, and noninvasive PACT/US molecular imaging assessment of alpha v beta 3-integrin holds promise in detecting high-risk plaques.

引用

页码：4601 / 4615

页数：15

共 43 条

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