Isabel Ramos1,2, Markus Henningsson1, Maryam Nezafat1, Begoña Lavin1,2, Pierre Gebhardt1, Andrea Protti1,2, Sara Lacerda1,2, Silvia Lorrio1,2, Alkystis Phinikaridou1,2, Ulrich Flögel3, Ajay M. Shah2, and René M. Botnar1,2
1Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, 2Cardiovascular Division, The British Heart Foundation Centre of Excellence, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, 3Department of Molecular Cardiology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
Optimal post-MI healing relies on a suitable degree of inflammation and
its timely resolution, which is directly related to a well-orchestrated
degradation and deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, leading to
cardiac remodeling. Here we explored the merits of multinuclear 1H/19F
MRI for the simultaneous assessment of cardiac inflammation and subsequent remodelling
in a murine model of MI. To investigate inflammatory cell recruitment into
injured myocardium, a 19F containing nanoparticle that is avidly taken
up by macrophages was used1. To evaluate changes of elastin content
in the ECM post-MI, a small molecular weight gadolinium-based elastin-specific
MR contrast agent was investigated2.
