Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), San 31, Hyojadong, Pohang 790-784, South Korea.
Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2012 Dec;28(8):1853-8. doi: 10.1007/s10554-012-0029-1. Epub 2012 Feb 22.
To measure instantaneous velocity fields of venous blood flow in a rat using X-ray particle tracking method. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) incorporated chitosan microparticles were applied as biocompatible flow tracers. After intravenous injection of the AuNP-chitosan particles into 7- to 9-week-old male rat vein, X-ray images of particle movement inside the cranial vena cava were consecutively captured. Individual AuNP-chitosan particles in the venous blood flow were clearly observed, and the corresponding velocity vectors were successfully extracted. The measured velocity vectors are in good agreement with the theoretical velocity profile suggested by Casson. This is the first trial to measure blood flow in animals under in vivo conditions with X-ray imaging technique. The results show that X-ray particle tracking technique has a great potential for in vivo measurements of blood flow, which can extend to various biomedical applications related with the diagnosis of circulatory vascular diseases.
采用 X 射线粒子跟踪法测量大鼠静脉血流的瞬时速度场。将金纳米粒子（AuNPs）与壳聚糖微球结合作为生物相容性的流动示踪剂。将 AuNP-壳聚糖颗粒经静脉注射入 7 至 9 周龄雄性大鼠静脉后，连续拍摄颅腔静脉内颗粒运动的 X 射线图像。可以清楚地观察到静脉血流中的单个 AuNP-壳聚糖颗粒，并成功提取了相应的速度矢量。测量的速度矢量与 Casson 提出的理论速度分布吻合较好。这是首次采用 X 射线成像技术在体内条件下测量动物血流。结果表明，X 射线粒子跟踪技术在血流的体内测量中具有很大的应用潜力，可扩展到与循环血管疾病诊断相关的各种生物医学应用中。
