Abstract #0279

Molecular & Microstructural Changes Accompanying Left Ventricular Hypertrophy Revealed with In-Vivo Diffusion Tensor MRI (DTI) & Molecular Imaging of the Mouse Heart

Shuning Huang¹, Choukri Mekkaoui¹, Miloslav Polasek¹, Howard H. Chen¹, Ruopeng Wang¹, Soeun Ngoy², Ronglih Liao², Van J. Wedeen¹, Guangping Dai¹, Peter Caravan¹, David E. Sosnovik^1,3

¹Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Mass General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; ²Cardiology, Brigham & Woman's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; ³Cardiology, Mass General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

The transition from adaptive hypertrophy to heart failure is poorly understood. Here, we use molecular MRI of a collagen-binding gadolinium chelate and in-vivo diffusion tensor MRI (DTI) of the mouse heart to characterize the response of the left ventricle to pressure overload. We show that pressure overload results in significant amounts of fibrosis and circumferential realignment of myofibers well before the overt transition to diastolic heart failure.