Hatoum Liana, Lee Hannah Song, Oshinski John N, Botchwey Edward A, Platt Manu O
Interdisciplinary Bioengineering Graduate Program, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA; Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; NIH Center for Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration, Bethesda, MD, USA; National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2025 Nov;115:102955. doi: 10.1016/j.bcmd.2025.102955. Epub 2025 Aug 14.
Arterial complications in sickle cell disease (SCD), including stenoses and occlusions, are critical contributors to stroke. Townes SCD mice exhibit neurocognitive deficits and micro-vasculopathy, however stenoses and occlusions that could be causal to ischemic strokes have not yet been confirmed, which has led to challenges whether murine pathology reflects human pathology for strokes due to SCD. In our longitudinal study using label-free magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) to image carotid arteries in Townes SCD mice as they aged from 1 to 7 months, we identified multiple stenoses and occlusions consistent with abnormalities seen in individuals with SCD and stroke complications. We report three cases showing abnormalities: Case 1, middle cerebral artery occlusion associated with seizures and a T1-weighted hyperintense lesion in the brain; Case 2, persistent internal carotid artery occlusion and side-specific artery size differences; and Case 3, persistent stenosis in the common carotid artery with aging. This study highlights the utility of MRA in tracking arterial changes in SCD mice where assessing symptomatic damage due to stroke is challenging. This study provides evidence of mouse-to-mouse variability in initiation and persistence of stenoses and occlusions resembling the variability of SCD complications in humans. HEADLINE: MRA identifies arterial lesions in mice with SCD.
镰状细胞病（SCD）中的动脉并发症，包括血管狭窄和闭塞，是导致中风的关键因素。汤斯SCD小鼠表现出神经认知缺陷和微血管病变，然而，可能导致缺血性中风的血管狭窄和闭塞尚未得到证实，这使得小鼠病理学是否反映SCD所致中风的人类病理学面临挑战。在我们的纵向研究中，使用无标记磁共振血管造影（MRA）对汤斯SCD小鼠从1个月到7个月龄的颈动脉进行成像，我们发现了多个狭窄和闭塞，与SCD和中风并发症患者中所见的异常一致。我们报告了三例显示异常的病例：病例1，大脑中动脉闭塞伴癫痫发作和大脑T1加权高信号病变；病例2，颈内动脉持续闭塞和双侧动脉大小差异；病例3，随着年龄增长，颈总动脉持续狭窄。这项研究强调了MRA在追踪SCD小鼠动脉变化方面的实用性，在评估中风引起的症状性损伤具有挑战性。这项研究提供了证据，表明小鼠之间在狭窄和闭塞的起始和持续方面存在差异，类似于人类SCD并发症的差异。标题：MRA识别SCD小鼠的动脉病变。
