title: Assessment of atherosclerotic plaque burden with an elastin-specific magnetic resonance contrast agent.
abstract: Atherosclerosis and its consequences remain the main cause of mortality in industrialized and developing nations. Plaque burden and progression have been shown to be independent predictors for future cardiac events by intravascular ultrasound. Routine prospective imaging is hampered by the invasive nature of intravascular ultrasound. A noninvasive technique would therefore be more suitable for screening of atherosclerosis in large populations. Here we introduce an elastin-specific magnetic resonance contrast agent (ESMA) for noninvasive quantification of plaque burden in a mouse model of atherosclerosis. The strong signal provided by ESMA allows for imaging with high spatial resolution, resulting in accurate assessment of plaque burden. Additionally, plaque characterization by quantifying intraplaque elastin content using signal intensity measurements is possible. Changes in elastin content and the high abundance of elastin during plaque development, in combination with the imaging properties of ESMA, provide potential for noninvasive assessment of plaque burden by molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, British Heart Foundation (BHF) Centre of Excellence, London, UK. marcus.makowski@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Marcus R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Makowski
authors.forename: Andrea J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Wiethoff
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Blume
authors.forename: Friederike
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cuello
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Warley
authors.forename: Christian H P
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: Eike
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nagel
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Razavi
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Onthank
authors.forename: Richard R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Cesati
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Marber
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schaeffter
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Simon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: René M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Botnar
mesh_terms: D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D003287:Contrast Media; D004549:Elastin / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D004549:Elastin