Development of synchrotron radiation x-ray intravital microscopy for in vivo imaging of rat heart vascular function.

This study elucidates the vascular internal diameter response of coronary arterial circulation in closed-chest rats to evaluate endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasodilatory ability and to investigate disease mechanisms. For this study, we developed an X-ray intravital microscopy system using a microangiography technique and a synchrotron radiation source at SPring-8. An X-ray direct-conversion type detector with 7-μm spatial resolution was used for real-time imaging. Microangiographic images were stored in a digital frame memory system at a maximum rate of 30 frame/s with a 1024 × 1024-pixel, 10-bit format. In imaging experiments, the small coronary arteries were visualized after iodine contrast agent injection into the coronary artery.