Brigit den Adel1,
Ernst Suidgeest2, Carmen Burtea3, Marieke Stammes2,
Kim van der Heiden4, Sophie Laurent3, Robert E.
Poelmann5, Robert N. Muller3, 6, Louise van
der Weerd7
1Pathology,
Amsterdam Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands; 2Radiology,
Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands; 3General,
Organic and Biomedical Chemistry, University of Mons-Hainault, Mons, Belgium;
4Biomedical Engineering, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam,
Netherlands; 5Anatomy, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden,
Netherlands; 6Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging,
University of Mons, Mons, Belgium; 7Radiology , Leiden University
Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
The aim of this study was to test whether E-selectin targeted USPIOs could visualize the treatment-specific effects of statin or fibrate treatment on atherosclerotic plaques in ApoE-/- mice. Imaging at two timepoints after USPIO injection allowed us to visualize both endothelial activation and the macrophage pool. E-selectin targeted molecular imaging showed different contrast enhanvement patterns after treatment with the two drugs, consistent with their mechanisms of action. With the fibrate treatment, we shown that plaque size alone is not necessarily a good marker for treatment response.