Abstract #0216

Quantitative MRI of the Myocardial Microcirculation in Mice using FAIR Look-Locker Arterial Spin Labeling & a Gamma-Variate Model of Blood Transit Time Distribution

Frederick H. Epstein^1,2, Nivedita K. Naresh², Patrick F. Antkowiak², Moriel H. Vandsburger², Xiao Chen²

¹Radiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA; ²Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Experimental therapies for ischemic heart disease are widely investigated in mouse and rat models. For these investigations, a multi-parametric assessment of the microcirculation would be highly valuable. We developed a kinetic analysis for arterial spin labeling (ASL) based on a gamma-variate blood transit model that enables the estimation of myocardial blood flow (MBF), myocardial blood volume (MBV), and mean transit time (MTT). An initial experimental evaluation of this method was performed in mice. Kinetic ASL with a gamma-variate-based model of the blood transit time distribution shows promise for quantifying multiple parameters of the microcirculation in the mouse heart.