In vivo Near Infrared Fluorescence (NIRF) Intravascular Molecular Imaging of Inflammatory Plaque, a Multimodal Approach to Imaging of Atherosclerosis

JoVE 2257 8/04/2011

Marcella A. Calfon¹, Amir Rosenthal^1,2, Georgios Mallas^1,3, Adam Mauskapf ¹, R. Nika Nudelman², Vasilis Ntziachristos², Farouc A. Jaffer¹

¹Cardiovascular Research Center and Cardiology Division, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, ²Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging, Helmholtz Zentrum München und Technische Universität München, ³Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University

We detail a new near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) catheter for 2-dimensional intravascular molecular imaging of plaque biology in vivo. The NIRF catheter can visualize key biological processes such as inflammation by reporting on the presence of plaque-avid activatable and targeted NIR fluorochromes. The catheter utilizes clinical engineering and power requirements and is targeted for application in human coronary arteries. The following research study describes a multimodal imaging strategy that utilizes a novel in vivo intravascular NIRF catheter to image and quantify inflammatory plaque in proteolytically active inflamed rabbit atheromata.

Flow Cytometry Analysis of Immune Cells Within Murine Aortas

JoVE 2848 7/01/2011

Matthew J. Butcher¹, Margo Herre¹, Klaus Ley², Elena Galkina¹

¹Deptartment of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, ²Division of Inflammation Biology, LaJolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology

This paper presents a flow cytometry-based method to investigate the immune composition of aortas. The paper also illustrates an additional technique that allows examining surrounding adventitia and vessel wall separately. This method opens possibilities to perform phenotypical analyses of aortic leukocytes and apply several immunological assays for atherosclerosis studies.

Quantification of Atherosclerotic Plaque Activity and Vascular Inflammation using [18-F] Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (FDG-PET/CT)

JoVE 3777 5/02/2012

Nehal N. Mehta¹, Drew A. Torigian², Joel M. Gelfand³, Babak Saboury², Abass Alavi²

¹Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, ²Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, ³Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine

There is great need to identify atherosclerosis non-invasively, and here we demonstrate how FDG-PET/CT can be used to detect and quantify atherosclerotic plaque activity and vascular inflammation.

Human Internal Mammary Artery (IMA) Transplantation and Stenting: A Human Model to Study the Development of In-Stent Restenosis

JoVE 3663 5/09/2012

Xiaoqin Hua^1,2, Tobias Deuse^1,2, Evangelos D. Michelakis³, Alois Haromy³, Phil S. Tsao⁴, Lars Maegdefessel⁴, Reinhold G. Erben⁵, Claudia Bergow⁵, Boris B. Behnisch⁶, Hermann Reichenspurner^1,2, Robert C. Robbins⁷, Sonja Schrepfer^1,2,7

¹University Heart Center Hamburg, TSI-Lab, Germany, ²Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Hamburg, ³Department of Medicine, Cardiology Division, Pulmonary Hypertension Program, University of Alberta, ⁴Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine , ⁵Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Physiology, Pathophysiology, and Biophysics, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, ⁶Translumina GmbH, Hechingen, ⁷Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine

This video shows a model to study the development of intimal hyperplasia after stent deployment using a human vessel (IMA) in an immunodeficient rat model.

January 2012: This Month in JoVE

JoVE 4194 1/02/2012

Aaron Kolski-Andreaco

Implantation of a Carotid Cuff for Triggering Shear-stress Induced Atherosclerosis in Mice

JoVE 3308 1/13/2012

Michael T. Kuhlmann¹, Simon Cuhlmann^2,3, Irmgard Hoppe¹, Rob Krams³, Paul C. Evans², Gustav J. Strijkers⁴, Klaas Nicolay⁴, Sven Hermann¹, Michael Schäfers¹

¹European Institute for Molecular Imaging, Westfälische Wilhelms-University Münster, ²British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Sciences Unit, Imperial College London , ³Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London , ⁴Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology

The constricting cuff presented in this article is designed to induce atherosclerosis in the murine common carotid artery. Due to the conical shape of its inner lumen the implanted cuff generates well-defined regions of low, high and oscillatory shear stress triggering the development of atherosclerotic lesions of different inflammatory phenotypes.

A Model of Disturbed Flow-Induced Atherosclerosis in Mouse Carotid Artery by Partial Ligation and a Simple Method of RNA Isolation from Carotid Endothelium

JoVE 1861 6/22/2010

Douglas Nam¹, Chih-Wen Ni², Amir Rezvan¹, Jin Suo², Klaudia Budzyn¹, Alexander Llanos¹, David G. Harrison¹, Don P. Giddens², Hanjoong Jo^1,2,3

¹Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Emory University, ²Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech and Emory University, ³Department of Bioinspired Science, Ewha Womans University

This describes a partial carotid ligation surgery, which causes disturbed flow conditions and subsequent atherosclerosis development (in two weeks) with intraplaque neo-vascularization (in four weeks) in the mouse common carotid artery. We also describe a novel method of RNA isolation from the carotid intima, providing high purity endothelial RNA.

Induction and Testing of Hypoxia in Cell Culture

JoVE 2899 8/12/2011

Danli Wu, Patricia Yotnda

Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine

Here we propose simple methods to induce hypoxia in cell cultures and simple tests to evaluate the hypoxic status of the cultures.

Assessing Endothelial Vasodilator Function with the Endo-PAT 2000

JoVE 2167 10/15/2010

Andrea L. Axtell, Fatemeh A. Gomari, John P. Cooke

Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University

A noninvasive procedure to assess endothelial function is demonstrated using the Endo-PAT 2000.

Real-time Imaging of Leukotriene B₄ Mediated Cell Migration and BLT1 Interactions with β-arrestin

JoVE 2315 12/23/2010

Venkatakrishna R. Jala, Bodduluri Haribabu

Microbiology and Immunology, James Graham Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville

This paper describes the methodology to determine the chemotactic response of leukocytes to specific ligands and identify interactions between the cell surface receptors and cytosolic proteins using live cell imaging techniques.