We recently showed that endometrial vascular endothelial growth/permeability factor (VEG/PF) mRNA expression was decreased by ovariectomy of baboons and restored by chronic administration of estrogen. However, it remains to be determined whether this effect of estrogen reflects genomic up-regulation of VEG/PF and leads to an increase in microvascular permeability, an early physiological event in angiogenesis. Therefore, we determined the temporal expression of VEG/PF mRNA in glandular epithelial and stromal cells isolated by laser capture microdissection from and width of microvascular paracellular clefts that regulate vessel permeability in the endometrium of ovariectomized baboons after acute estradiol and/or progesterone administration. Endometrial VEG/PF mRNA levels were increased in five of five animals within 2 h of estradiol administration and remained elevated at 4 and 6 h. The net increase in glandular epithelial (7.31 +/- 2.72 attomol/fmol 18S ribosomal rRNA) and stromal (3.13 +/- 0.36) cell VEG/PF mRNA levels after estradiol administration was over 8-fold (P < 0.05) and 2.6-fold (P < 0.01) greater, respectively, than after vehicle (0.90 +/- 0.30, glands and 1.20 +/- 0.33, stroma). In contrast, endometrial VEG/PF mRNA expression was unaltered by progesterone. After estradiol treatment, endometrial paracellular cleft width was increased (P < 0.01) from a mean (+/-SE) of 71.6 +/- 4.6 nm at 0 h to 101.1 +/- 6.4 nm at 6 h, whereas vehicle or progesterone had no effect. We suggest that estrogen has a major role in regulating VEG/PF synthesis and early events in angiogenesis in the primate endometrium.

Activated macrophages play a significant role in initiation and progression of inflammatory diseases and may serve as the basis for the development of targeted diagnostic methods for imaging sites of inflammation. Folate receptor beta (FR-β) is differentially expressed on activated macrophages associated with inflammatory disease states yet is absent in either quiescent or resting macrophages. Because folate binds with high affinity to FR-β, development of folate directed imaging agents has proceeded rapidly in the past decade. However, reports of PET based imaging agents for use in inflammatory conditions remain limited. To investigate whether FR-β expressing macrophages could be exploited for PET based inflammatory imaging, two separate folate-targeted PET imaging agents were developed, 4-[(18)F]-fluorophenylfolate and [(68)Ga]-DOTA-folate, and their ability to target activated macrophages were examined in a rodent inflammatory paw model. We further compared inflamed tissue uptake with 2-[(18)F]fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose ([(18)F]-FDG). microPET analysis demonstrated that both folate-targeted PET tracers had higher uptake in the inflamed paw compared to the control paw. When these radiotracers were compared to [(18)F]-FDG, both folate PET tracers had a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than [(18)F]-FDG, suggesting that folate tracers may be superior to [(18)F]-FDG in detecting diseases with an inflammatory component. Moreover, both folate-PET imaging agents also bind to FR-α which is overexpressed on multiple human cancers. Therefore, these folate derived PET tracers may also find use for localizing and staging FR(+) cancers, monitoring response to therapy, and for selecting patients for tandem folate-targeted therapies.

Inflammation as a core pathological event of atherosclerotic lesions is associated with the secretion of cathepsin proteases and the expression of α v β 3 integrin. We employed fluorescence molecular tomographic (FMT) noninvasive imaging of these molecular activities using cathepsin sensing (ProSense, CatB FAST) and α v β 3 integrin (IntegriSense) near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) agents. A statistically significant increase in the ProSense and IntegriSense signal was observed within the chest region of apoE−/− mice (P < 0.05) versus C57BL/6 mice starting 25 and 22 weeks on high cholesterol diet, respectively. In a treatment study using ezetimibe (7 mg/kg), there was a statistically significant reduction in the ProSense and CatB FAST chest signal of treated (P < 0.05) versus untreated apoE−/− mice at 31 and 21 weeks on high cholesterol diet, respectively. The signal of ProSense and CatB FAST correlated with macrophage counts and was found associated with inflammatory cells by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry of cells dissociated from aortas. This report demonstrates that cathepsin and α v β 3 integrin NIRF agents can be used as molecular imaging biomarkers for longitudinal detection of atherosclerosis, and cathepsin agents can monitor anti-inflammatory effects of ezetimibe with applications in preclinical testing of therapeutics and potentially for early diagnosis of atherosclerosis in patients.

BackgroundType 2 diabetes results from failure of the β-cells to compensate for increased insulin demand due to abnormal levels of metabolic factors. The ob/ob(lep-/-) mouse has been extensively studied as an animal model of type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have shown a correlation between β-cell function and bioluminescent imaging in lean genetically engineered mice. The ability to noninvasively monitor β-cell function in ob/ob mice could provide new information on β-cell regulation in type 2 diabetes.MethodsTo create the B6 Albino ob/ob MIP-luc mice (ob/ob-luc), the ob/ob mouse was crossed with the CD1 MIP-luc mouse. All mice were backcrossed over multiple generations to ensure the genetic background of the transgenic mice was over 96% similar to the background of the original ob/ob mouse. Animal weight, blood glucose levels, insulin in plasma, and in vivo bioluminescence (BLI) were monitored weekly or biweekly for up to 70 weeks of age. BL imaging was performed using IVIS Spectrum (Perkin Elmer) and calculated by integrating the bioluminescence signal between 5 and 10 min after i.v. injection of D-luciferin. Insulin immunohistochemistry determined islet beta cell count and insulin secretion assay determined islet insulin function.ResultsThere were significant increases in BLI and insulin levels as the ob/ob-luc mice aged while glucose levels gradually decreased. Ob/ob-luc were sacrificed at different time points to determine ex vivo BLI, islet function and total β-cell numbers using a cell counting training algorithm developed for the Vectra image analysis system (Perkin Elmer). The number of β-cells increased as the mice aged and all three ex vivo measurements correlated with BLI.ConclusionsThe ob/ob-luc mice can serve as a model of metabolic stress, similar to human type 2 diabetes using BLI as a surrogate marker for β-cell function.

Although vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) and Ang-2 have important roles in angiogenesis, very little is known about the regulation of these factors in the villous placenta during human pregnancy. In the present study, to investigate whether placental expression of Ang-1, Ang-2 and VEGF was altered in a cell-specific manner with advancing baboon gestation, the mRNA levels of these growth factors were determined by RT-PCR in cells isolated by Percoll gradient centrifugation from and protein localization assessed by immunocytochemistry in the villous placenta at early (day 60), mid (day 100) and late (day 170, term is 184 days) baboon gestation. Mean (± SE) Ang-1 mRNA levels, relative to 18S rRNA, in villous syncytiotrophoblast (3.92 ± 0.68) and cytotrophoblast (1.31 ± 0.31) cell fractions were highest on day 60 of gestation, then decreased by approximately 2.5-fold (P<0.05) to 1.39 ± 0.29 and 0.49 ±0.07, respectively, on day 170. Moreover, Ang-1 mRNA levels in the villous stromal cells and Ang-2 mRNA levels in all placental villous cell fractions were similar on days 60, 100, and 170 of gestation. In contrast to Ang-1 and Ang-2, placental villous cytotrophoblast VEGF mRNA levels were increased 2.94 fold (P<0.05) between mid (0.67 ± 0.15) and late (1.97 ± 0.49) gestation. A corresponding decrease in Ang-1, absence of change in Ang-2, and increase in VEGF protein immunocytochemical expression were exhibited in placental trophoblast with advancing baboon pregnancy. Ang-1/-2 and the angiopoietin Tie-2 receptor were expressed in vascular endothelial cells of the villous placenta, indicating that these blood vessel cells are a major site of ligand-receptor interaction for angiogenesis during primate pregnancy. We conclude that there is a cell-specific differential change in placental villous trophoblast expression of VEGF, Ang-1, and Ang-2 which we propose is important in regulating angiogenesis in the villous placenta during primate pregnancy.

Drug-induced vascular injury (DIVI), defined as arterial medial degeneration/necrosis usually associated with perivascular inflammation, is frequently observed in the mesenteric arteries of rats but the relevance to humans remains a hurdle for drug development. Here, we describe the evaluation of commercially available optical imaging biomarkers using a rat DIVI model. Male Sprague Dawley rats were administered 10 mg/kg/day of a proprietary soluble guanylate cyclase activator (sGCa). Optical agents, AngioSense for the detection of vessel permeability, MMPSense for the detection of activated matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and IntegriSense for the detection of αvβ3 integrin, were injected via tail vein 24 hours before fluorescence (FL) ex vivo imaging. Imaging found a statistically significant difference in FL from all optical agents between treated and vehicle groups (p < .05). Mesenteric arteries were further analyzed by histopathology, flow cytometry, and immunohistochemistry. Histopathology confirmed perivascular inflammation and/or arterial medial degeneration in the sGCa-treated animals. Flow cytometry of digested arteries revealed myeloid cells as a main source of MMPSense signal. Immunohistochemical analysis further identified elevated MMP-9 expression within arterial walls and surrounding tissue of treated animals. Together, these data demonstrate that MMPSense and AngioSense are sensitive optical imaging biomarkers for the quantification of DIVI in rat mesenteric arteries.

Paraffin sections ofretinal tissue from five patients who died from the acquired une deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and retin-