Claudia Cabella1, Giulia Chiesa2, Vito Lorusso1, Alessandro Maiocchi1, Marta Marchesi2, Luigi Miragoli1, Cinzia Parolini2, Luisa Poggi1, Fabio Tedoldi1, Fulvio Uggeri1, Giovanni Valbusa1
1Bracco Imaging SpA, Colleretto Giacosa, Turin, Italy; 2Dipartimento Scienze Farmacologiche, University of Milan, Milan, Mi, Italy
Development of new, non-invasive, diagnostic tools aimed to detect the occurrence of atherosclerotic plaques is a primary task in medical research, due to the impact of atherosclerosis-induced diseases on the world population health. In this study, using ApoE -/- mice as animal model and hystologic analysis as reference standard, we showed that the use of the blood pool contrast agent B22956/1 strongly improves the sensitivity of MRI in detecting spontaneously occurring human-like atherosclerotic lesions, thanks to the strong albumin binding of this molecule, which increases the intravascular persisting time and thus the chance to permeate altered endothelial tissues.