Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
Vascular Biology Section, Evans Department of Medicine, Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
J Biophotonics. 2018 Nov;11(11):e201800053. doi: 10.1002/jbio.201800053. Epub 2018 Jun 28.
Flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) is used for assessment of vascular endothelial function in humans as a predictor of cardiovascular events. It has been challenging to carry it on preclinical murine models due to the diminutive size of the femoral artery. Here, we present a new approach to accurately measure the blood velocity and femoral artery diameters of mice by acquiring Doppler optical coherence tomography and optical coherence tomography angiography continuously within 1 single experimental scanning protocol. Using the 3-dimensional imaging and new velocity algorithm, the measurement precision of diameter, blood flow, velocity and wall shear stress are improved to 0.91%, 11.0%, 10.7% and 14.0%, respectively. FMD of healthy mouse femoral artery measured by this method was 11.96% ± 0.98%, which was blunted to 5.69% ± 0.4% by intravenous administration of endothelial nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (L-N -Nitroarginine methyl ester), in agreement with that reported in the literature.
血流介导的血管扩张（FMD）被用于评估人类血管内皮功能，作为心血管事件的预测指标。由于股动脉体积较小，在临床前的小鼠模型中进行该检测具有挑战性。在这里，我们提出了一种新方法，通过在 1 个单一的实验扫描方案中连续获取多普勒光相干断层扫描和光相干断层扫描血管造影，准确测量小鼠的血流速度和股动脉直径。使用 3 维成像和新的速度算法，直径、血流、速度和壁切应力的测量精度分别提高到 0.91%、11.0%、10.7%和 14.0%。该方法测量的健康小鼠股动脉 FMD 为 11.96%±0.98%，静脉注射内皮型一氧化氮合酶抑制剂（L-N-硝基精氨酸甲酯）后降至 5.69%±0.4%，与文献报道一致。
