Improved Arterial Spin Labeling After Myocardial Infarction in Mice Using Respiratory and Cardiac Gated Look-Locker Imaging with Fuzzy C-Means Clustering for T1 Estimation

Moriel H. Vandsburger¹, Robert L. Janiczek¹, Yaqin Xu¹, Brent A. French¹, Craig H. Meyer¹, Christopher M. Kramer¹, Frederick H. Epstein¹

Arterial spin labeling is used to quantify myocardial perfusion in mice, but not after myocardial infarction (MI). We developed a cardio-respiratory triggered ASL method which incorporates a fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm during image reconstruction in order to reduce respiratory motion artifact and improve perfusion quantification after MI. Using this technique, we measured myocardial perfusion in distinct reperfused infarct and remote zones of myocardium during the time course of infarct healing in mice. Our data indicate that while perfusion in remote zone myocardium is unchanged, infarct zone perfusion drops significantly 1 day post-MI and recovers by 28 days post-MI.