Imaging the Landmarks of Vascular Recovery

Abstract

Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a major worldwide health concern. Since the late 1990s therapeutic angiogenesis has been investigated as an alternative to traditional PAD treatments. Although positive preclinical results abound in the literature, the outcomes of human clinical trials have been discouraging. Among the challenges the field has faced has been a lack of standardization of the timings and measures used to validate new treatment approaches. Methods: In order to study the spatiotemporal dynamics of both perfusion and neovascularization in mice subjected to surgically-induced hindlimb ischemia (n= 30), we employed three label-free imaging modalities (a novel high-sensitivity ultrasonic Power Doppler methodology, laser speckle contrast, and photoacoustic imaging), as well as a tandem of radio-labeled molecular probes, 99m Tc-NC100692 and 99m Tc-BRU-5921 respectively, designed to detect two key modulators of angiogenic activity, V3 and HIF-1 , via scintigraphic imaging.