In Vivo Near-Infrared Fluorescence Imaging of Atherosclerosis Using Local Delivery of Novel Targeted Molecular Probes

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of a technique for atherosclerosis imaging using local delivery of relatively small quantities (0.04–0.4 mg/kg) of labeled-specific imaging tracers targeting ICAM-1 and unpolymerized type I collagen or negative controls in 13 rabbits with atheroma induced by balloon injury in the abdominal aorta and a 12-week high-cholesterol diet. Immediately after local infusion, in vivo intravascular ultrasonography (IVUS)-NIRF imaging was performed at different time-points over a 40-minute period. The in vivo peak NIRF signal was significantly higher in the molecular tracer-injected rabbits than in the control-injected animals (P < 0.05). Ex vivo peak NIRF signal was significantly higher in the ICAM-1 probe-injected rabbits than in controls (P = 0.04), but not in the collagen probe-injected group (P = 0.29). NIRF signal discrimination following dual-probe delivery was also shown to be feasible in a single animal and thus offers the possibility of combining several distinct biological imaging agents in future studies. This innovative imaging strategy using in vivo local delivery of low concentrations of labeled molecular tracers followed by IVUS-NIRF catheter-based imaging holds potential for detection of vulnerable human coronary artery plaques.

Imaging atherosclerotic plaques by targeting Galectin-3 and activated macrophages using (89Zr)-DFO- Galectin3-F(ab')2 mAb

“…Intravascular fluorescence molecular imaging (FMI) is an emerging technology that enables imaging of specific molecular events within rupture-prone plaques 65 . Our results support the important possibility that Gal3 expression-imaging may qualify to distinguish stable versus unstable plaques using intravascular FMI, after labeling antibody fragments with near-infrared fluorescent dyes having a longer emission wavelength, such as indocyanine green (ICG) 66 .…”

Mechanically Rotating Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) Transducer: A Review

“…Thus, more than one imaging modality has been integrated into the IVUS images. For example, IVUS/intravascular optical coherence tomography (IV-OCT) [184][185][186][187][188][189] and IVUS/near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) [190][191][192][193][194] are currently available for practical use, and IVUS images with near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) [195][196][197][198][199], fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) [200][201][202][203][204], and intravascular photoacoustic (IVPA) [123,[205][206][207][208] have been investigated at the laboratory level. These combinations can complement the drawbacks of each imaging modality while providing more clinical information.…”

Development of novel GnRH and Tat48–60 based luminescent probes with enhanced cellular uptake and bioimaging profile

“…The flow rate was set to 5 mL min −1 . The pure fraction was lyophilized to afford a light red solid compound, with a yield of 35…”

“…[30][31][32][33][34] Such peptide-based probes are also widely employed for disease imaging in vivo. 6,[35][36][37] Herein, we present the advantages of utilizing a ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complex exhibiting phosphorescence, [Ru(bipy) 2 (mcb)] 2+ , over a common organic fluorophore, 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein (5(6)-FAM) in peptide bioconjugates. To compare [Ru(bipy) 2 (mcb)] 2+ and 5(6)-FAM for cell imaging, we took advantage of the natural polycationic and low amphipathic CPP derived from the HIV, Tat [48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60] , which is internalized by macropinocytosis and exhibits low toxicity.…”