title: Towards stratifying ischemic components by cardiac MRI and multifunctional stainings in a rabbit model of myocardial infarction.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to identify critical components of myocardial infarction (MI) including area at risk (AAR), MI-core and salvageable zone (SZ) by using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) and multifunctional stainings in rabbits.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen rabbits received 90-min coronary artery (CA) ligation and reopening to induce reperfused MI. First-pass perfusion weighted imaging (PWI(90')) was performed immediately before CA reperfusion. Necrosis avid dye Evans blue (EB) was intravenously injected for later MI-core detection. One-day later, cMRI with T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), PWI(24h) and delayed enhancement (DE) T1WI was performed at a 3.0T clinical scanner. The heart was excised and CA was re-ligated with aorta infused by red-iodized-oil (RIO). The heart was sliced into 3-mm sections for digital radiography (DR), histology and planimetry with myocardial salvage index (MSI) and perfusion density rate (PDR) calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant difference between MI-cores defined by DE-T1WI and EB-staining (31.13±8.55% vs 29.80±7.97%; p=0.74). The AAR was defined similarly by PWI90' (39.93±9.51%), RIO (38.82±14.41%) and DR (38.17±15.98%), underestimated by PWI(24h) (36.44±5.31%), but overestimated (p<0.01) by T2WI (56.93±8.87%). Corresponding MSI turned out to be 24.17±9.5% (PWI(90')), 21.97±9.41% (DR) and 22.68±9.65% (RIO), which were significantly (p<0.01) higher and lower than that with PWI(24h) (15.15±7.34%) and T2WI (45.52±7.5%) respectively. The PDR differed significantly (p<0.001) between normal myocardium (350.6±33.1%) and the AAR (31.2±15%), suggesting 11-times greater blood perfusion in normal myocardium over the AAR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The introduced rabbit platform and new staining techniques together with the use of a 3.0T clinical scanner for cMRI enabled visualization of MI components and may contribute to translational cardiac imaging research for improved theranostic management of ischemic heart disease.
authors.affiliation: 1. KU Leuven, Department of Imaging and Pathology, Theragnostic Laboratory, Radiology Section, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Yuanbo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: 1. KU Leuven, Department of Imaging and Pathology, Theragnostic Laboratory, Radiology Section, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: 2. Departments of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China.
authors.forename: Zhanlong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: 1. KU Leuven, Department of Imaging and Pathology, Theragnostic Laboratory, Radiology Section, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Frederik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dekeyzer
authors.affiliation: 1. KU Leuven, Department of Imaging and Pathology, Theragnostic Laboratory, Radiology Section, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: 3. Departments of Electronics and Information System (ELIS), Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: 1. KU Leuven, Department of Imaging and Pathology, Theragnostic Laboratory, Radiology Section, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marlein Miranda
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Cona
authors.affiliation: 1. KU Leuven, Department of Imaging and Pathology, Theragnostic Laboratory, Radiology Section, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oyen
authors.affiliation: 1. KU Leuven, Department of Imaging and Pathology, Theragnostic Laboratory, Radiology Section, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Yicheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ni
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005070:Evans Blue; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D055414:Myocardial Perfusion Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D005070:Evans Blue
keywords: Evans blue; MRI; area at risk; myocardial infarction; rabbits