Targeting vulnerable plaque of experimental atherosclerosis models with 99Tcm-Duramycin / 中华核医学与分子影像杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the value of 99Tcm-Duramycin SPCET/CT in the detection of vulnerable plaque (VP) in atherosclerotic (AS) rabbit models.Methods Sixteen New Zealand male rabbits were randomly divided into three groupsgroup A (sham-operated group,n =4),group B (stable plaque group,n =4) and group C (VP group,n =8).Group A was fed on normal diet,and the other 2groups were fed on cholesterol diet for 12 weeks.Femoral artery dissection sham-operation was done in group A and group B,while balloon-induced abdominal aorta wall injury was produced in group C after 2 weeks'feeding.Animals were injected with 99Tcm-Duramycin (74 MBq/kg) and then SPECT/CT imaging was performed at the end of 4,8,and 12 weeks,respectively.Abdominal aortas were explanted for ex vivo imaging and histological characterization of plaque.The apoptosis index (AI) was calculated.One-way analysis of variance was used to analyze data.Results There was no radioactive uptake by the abdominal aorta in each group at the end of 4 weeks and no uptake in group A and group B at the end of 8 weeks.There was slightly uptake radioactive uptake by the abdominal aorta in group B at the end of 12 weeks and in group C at the end of 8 weeks.There was intense uptake at the lesions of AS rabbits in group C at the end of 12 weeks,and the T/NT value significantly higher than that of the other two groups (3.40±0.22 vs 2.12±0.65,2.68±0.18,F=198.775,P＜0.05).The result was confirmed in the ex vivo imaging of the explanted aorta.The AI of group C was significantly higher than that of group A and B ((25.4±6.32) ％ vs (0±0.02)％,(5.3± 1.97)％,F=70.260,P＜0.05).Conclusions 99Tcm-Duramycin scimigraphy could identify the apoptosis of VP in the rabbit AS models.It is a promising non-invasive method to diagnose AS plaques.