Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
Henry Royce Institute, Department of Materials, School of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Jun 25;21(12):4538. doi: 10.3390/ijms21124538.
Vascular calcification describes the formation of mineralized tissue within the blood vessel wall, and it is highly associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. In this article, we briefly review different rodent models used to study vascular calcification in vivo, and critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of the current techniques used to analyze and quantify calcification in these models, namely 2-D histology and the -cresolphthalein assay. In light of this, we examine X-ray micro-computed tomography (µCT) as an emerging complementary tool for the analysis of vascular calcification in animal models. We demonstrate that this non-destructive technique allows us to simultaneously quantify and localize calcification in an intact vessel in 3-D, and we consider recent advances in µCT sample preparation techniques. This review also discusses the potential to combine 3-D µCT analyses with subsequent 2-D histological, immunohistochemical, and proteomic approaches in correlative microscopy workflows to obtain rich, multifaceted information on calcification volume, calcification load, and signaling mechanisms from within the same arterial segment. In conclusion we briefly discuss the potential use of µCT to visualize and measure vascular calcification in vivo in real-time.
血管钙化描述了血管壁内矿化组织的形成，它与慢性肾脏病、糖尿病和动脉粥样硬化患者心血管发病率和死亡率的增加高度相关。在本文中，我们简要回顾了用于体内研究血管钙化的不同啮齿动物模型，并批判性地评估了目前用于分析和量化这些模型中钙化的技术的优缺点，即 2-D 组织学和 -cresolphthalein 测定法。有鉴于此，我们检查了 X 射线微计算机断层扫描（µCT）作为分析动物模型中血管钙化的新兴互补工具。我们证明，这种非破坏性技术使我们能够在 3-D 中同时定量和定位完整血管中的钙化，并且我们考虑了 µCT 样品制备技术的最新进展。本综述还讨论了将 3-D µCT 分析与随后的 2-D 组织学、免疫组织化学和蛋白质组学方法相结合在相关显微镜工作流程中获得同一动脉段内丰富的、多方面的钙化体积、钙化负荷和信号机制信息的潜力。总之，我们简要讨论了 µCT 在实时体内可视化和测量血管钙化的潜在用途。
