Calcification of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells and Imaging of Aortic Calcification and Inflammation

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Cited by 28

08:43 min

May 31st, 2016

10.3791/54017-v

May 31st, 2016

20.1K views

¹Anesthesia Center for Critical Care Research of the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, ²Cardiovascular Research Center and Cardiology Division of the Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, ³Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, ⁴Harvard Medical School, ⁵Department of Anesthesiology, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, ⁶Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases and the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology of the Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital

^* These authors contributed equally

Vascular calcification is an important predictor of and contributor to human cardiovascular disease. This protocol describes methods for inducing calcification of cultured primary vascular smooth muscle cells and for quantifying calcification and macrophage burden in animal aortas using near-infrared fluorescence imaging.