Kar S, Kumar A, Gao F, Qiu B, Zhan X, Yang X
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
J Biomed Opt. 2006 May-Jun;11(3):34008. doi: 10.1117/1.2209559.
This study develops a percutaneous optical imaging system for tracking fluorescent reporter gene expression in vasculatures. We build a percutaneous optical imaging system that primarily comprised a 1.5-mm, semi-rigid, two-port optical probe. The performance of the optical probe is first tested in vitro with cell phantoms, and then the feasibility of the percutaneous optical imaging system is validated in vivo in eight femoral artery segments of two pigs. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene is locally delivered into four arterial segments, while saline is delivered to the four contralateral arterial segments as controls. The targeted arteries are localized using color Doppler, and thereafter the optical probe is positioned to the target arterial segments under ultrasound guidance. Optical imaging captures are obtained using different exposure times from 10 to 60 s. Subsequently, the GFP- and saline-targeted arteries are harvested for fluorescent microscopy confirmation. The percutaneous optical probe is successfully positioned at a distance approximately 2 mm from the targets in all eight arteries. The in-vivo imaging shows higher average signal intensity in GFP-treated arteries than in saline-treated arteries. This study demonstrates the potential using the percutaneous optical imaging system to monitor, in vivo, reporter gene expression from vasculatures.
本研究开发了一种用于跟踪血管中荧光报告基因表达的经皮光学成像系统。我们构建了一个经皮光学成像系统，其主要由一个1.5毫米的半刚性双端口光学探头组成。首先在体外使用细胞模型测试光学探头的性能，然后在两只猪的八个股动脉段体内验证经皮光学成像系统的可行性。将绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）基因局部注入四个动脉段，而将生理盐水注入对侧的四个动脉段作为对照。使用彩色多普勒定位目标动脉，然后在超声引导下将光学探头放置到目标动脉段。使用10到60秒的不同曝光时间进行光学成像采集。随后，采集GFP靶向动脉段和生理盐水靶向动脉段进行荧光显微镜确认。在所有八条动脉中，经皮光学探头均成功定位在距目标约2毫米处。体内成像显示，GFP处理的动脉平均信号强度高于生理盐水处理的动脉。本研究证明了使用经皮光学成像系统在体内监测血管中报告基因表达的潜力。
