Microvascular imaging using synchrotron radiation.
In vascular diseases, the involvement of small vessels can be very crucial physiologically. Morphological changes of vasculature and alterations may be promising characteristic criteria for investigating disease progression and for evaluating therapeutic effects. Visualization of microvasculatures is an important step in understanding the mechanism of early vessel disorders and developing effective therapeutic strategies. However, the microvessels involved are beyond the detection limit of conventional angiography, i.e. 200 microm. Thus, faster and higher-resolution imaging technologies are desired to capture the early anatomical structure changes of vasculatures in study of the disease. A new angiography system, synchrotron radiation microangiography, has been developed in this study. It allows for enhanced sensitivity to contrast agents and superior image quality in spatial resolution. Iodine and barium sulfate were used as blood vessel contrast agents. Physiological features of whole-body mouse microvasculature were investigated using synchrotron radiation for the first time. The intracranial vascular network and other blood vessels were observed clearly, and the related anatomy and vessel diameters were studied. Dynamic angiography in mouse brain was performed with a high spatial image resolution of around 20-30 microm. Future research will focus on the development of novel specific targeting contrast agents for blood vessel imaging in vivo with a long half-life and fewer side effects.
Liu
Ping
P
Med-X Research Institute, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. pingliu@sjtu.edu.cn
Sun
Jianqi
J
Zhao
Jun
J
Liu
Xiaoxia
X
Gu
Xiang
X
Li
Jing
J
Xiao
Tiqiao
T
Xu
Lisa X
LX
D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D001466:Barium Sulfate; D002533:Cerebral Angiography / Q000379:methods; D003287:Contrast Media; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D005260:Female; D007455:Iodine; D057230:Limit of Detection; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008833:Microcirculation; D017356:Synchrotrons
D003287:Contrast Media; D001466:Barium Sulfate; D007455:Iodine