title: Magnetic resonance microscopy quantifies the disease progression in Marfan syndrome mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To use noninvasive magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) to examine aneurysmal disease in the mouse model of Marfan syndrome (MFS).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of eight wild-type (WT) and MFS mice were imaged using MRM; four of them at three different time points over an 8-week period and the remaining animals were imaged at one time point. The maximal cross-sectional area of the aorta was measured by manual tracing and by automated means from combined cardiac and respiratory-gated bright-blood images. Relationships between aortic size and age and the differences between WT and mutant mice aortic size were established.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Maximal cross-sectional aortic areas differed significantly (P < 0.05) between WT and mutant mice for all time points, with MFS mice having larger aortic size. There was a positive correlation between aortic size and age in MFS mice (r = 0.80) with a significant increase from the 14th to the 22nd week (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MRM detected the differences in aortic size between WT and mutant mice over time, demonstrating a potential for noninvasive technique for the assessment of potential therapies in MFS mice.
authors.affiliation: Imaging Science Laboratories, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York 10029-6574, USA.
authors.forename: Vitalii V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Itskovich
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lieb
authors.forename: Juan Gilberto S
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Aguinaldo
authors.forename: Daniel D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Samber
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.forename: Zahi A
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Fayad
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008382:Marfan Syndrome / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D008853:Microscopy