Monitoring of arterial wall remodelling in atherosclerotic rabbits with a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent binding to matrix metalloproteinases

摘要

AimsP947 is a gadolinium-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent with high affinity for several matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) involved in arterial wall remodelling. We tested whether the intensity of enhancement detected in vivo in the arterial wall with P947 and MRI correlates with actual tissue MMP-related enzymatic activity measured in a rabbit atherosclerotic model subjected to dietary manipulations.