The heart undergoes complex remodeling processes post myocardial infarction (MI), which are yet to be fully understood. Advanced preclinical in vivo imaging tools are key to a better understanding of the processes underlying ischemic damage and cardiac remodeling. Herein, volumetric optoacoustic tomography (VOT) was used to study remodeling patterns at different stages post MI by measuring the pulmonary transit time, ICG perfusion and cardiac cycle irregularities. The real-time, non-invasive, volumetric capabilities of VOT detected differences in remodeling patterns across different MI models, highlighting the feasibility of VOT as a preclinical cardiac imaging tool to study complex murine heart dynamics.
KEYWORDS: Heart, Real time imaging, Image visualization, Photoacoustic tomography, Beam propagation method, In vivo imaging, Data acquisition, Temporal resolution, Mouse models, Transducers, Spherical lenses, Tissues
Extraction of murine cardiac functional parameters on a beat-by-beat basis remains challenging with the existing imaging modalities. Novel methods enabling in vivo characterization of functional parameters at a high temporal resolution are poised to advance cardiovascular research and provide a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying cardiac diseases. We present a new approach based on analyzing contrast-enhanced optoacoustic (OA) images acquired at high volumetric frame rate without using cardiac gating or other approaches for motion correction. Acute myocardial infarction was surgically induced in murine models, and the method was modified to optimize for acquisition of artifact-free optoacoustic data. Infarcted hearts could be differentiated from healthy controls based on a significantly higher pulmonary transit time (PTT: infarct 2.07 s vs. healthy 1.34 s), while no statistically significant difference was observed in the heart rate (318 bpm vs. 309 bpm). In combination with the proven ability of optoacoustics to track targeted probes within the injured myocardium, our method is capable of depicting cardiac anatomy, function, and molecular signatures on a beat-by-beat basis, both with high spatial and temporal resolution, thus providing new insights into the study of myocardial ischemia.
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