Moghiseh Mahdieh, Searle Emily, Dixit Devyani, Kim Johoon, Dong Yuxi C, Cormode David P, Butler Anthony, Gieseg Steven P
Department of Radiology, University of Otago, Christchurch 9016, New Zealand.
MARS Bioimaging Ltd., Christchurch 8041, New Zealand.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2023 Jan 29;13(3):499. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13030499.
A key process in the development of atherosclerotic plaques is the recruitment of monocytes into the artery wall. Using spectral photon-counting computed tomography we examine whether monocyte deposition within the artery wall of ApoE-/- mouse can be detected. Primary mouse monocytes were labelled by incubating them with 15 nm gold nanoparticles coated with 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid The monocyte uptake of the particle was confirmed by electron microscopy of the cells before injection into 6-week-old apolipoprotein E deficient (ApoE-/-) mouse that had been fed with the Western diet for 10 weeks. Four days following injection, the mouse was sacrificed and imaged using a MARS spectral photon counting computed tomography scanner with a spectral range of 7 to 120 KeV with five energy bins. Imaging analysis showed the presence of X-ray dense material within the mouse aortic arch which was consistent with the spectral characteristic of gold rather than calcium. The imaging is interpreted as showing the deposition of gold nanoparticles containing monocytes within the mouse aorta. The results of our study determined that spectral photon-counting computed tomography could provide quantitative information about gold nanoparticles labelled monocytes in voxels of 90 × 90 × 90 µm. The imaging was consistent with previous micro-CT and electron microscopy of mice using the same nanoparticles. This study demonstrates that spectral photon-counting computed tomography, using a MARS small bore scanner, can detect a fundamental atherogenic process within mouse models of atherogenesis. The present study demonstrates the feasibility of spectral photon-counting computed tomography as an emerging molecular imaging modality to detect atherosclerotic disease.
动脉粥样硬化斑块形成过程中的一个关键步骤是单核细胞募集进入动脉壁。我们使用光谱光子计数计算机断层扫描技术来检测载脂蛋白E基因敲除（ApoE-/-）小鼠动脉壁内的单核细胞沉积情况。将原代小鼠单核细胞与包被有11-巯基十一烷酸的15纳米金纳米颗粒孵育进行标记。在将细胞注射到6周龄且已接受西式饮食喂养10周的载脂蛋白E缺陷（ApoE-/-）小鼠体内之前，通过电子显微镜确认细胞对颗粒的摄取情况。注射四天后，处死小鼠并使用光谱范围为7至120千电子伏特、具有五个能量区间的MARS光谱光子计数计算机断层扫描仪进行成像。成像分析显示小鼠主动脉弓内存在X射线致密物质，其与金而非钙的光谱特征一致。该成像结果被解释为显示了含单核细胞的金纳米颗粒在小鼠主动脉内的沉积。我们的研究结果表明，光谱光子计数计算机断层扫描能够提供关于90×90×90微米体素内标记单核细胞的金纳米颗粒的定量信息。该成像结果与之前使用相同纳米颗粒对小鼠进行的微型计算机断层扫描和电子显微镜检查结果一致。本研究表明，使用MARS小口径扫描仪的光谱光子计数计算机断层扫描能够在动脉粥样硬化发生的小鼠模型中检测到一个基本的致动脉粥样硬化过程。本研究证明了光谱光子计数计算机断层扫描作为一种新兴的分子成像方式来检测动脉粥样硬化疾病的可行性。
