Accumulation of indium-111-labeled human low density lipoprotein in the rabbit aorta: Implications for nuclear imaging of vascular lesions

Rick V. Hay*, David D. Casalino, Leszek Kordylewski, Robert W. Atcher, Martin W. Brechbiel, Otto A. Gansow, Ute Sharokhizadeh, Richard M. Fleming, Katherine A. Lathrop, Violet J. Stark, Paul V. Harper

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nuclear imaging of atheromata must distinguish lesions from both blood pool and normal arterial tissue. We have examined spatial and temporal variations of indium-111-labeled human low density lipoprotein (LDL) accumulation in rabbit aortas. LDL-derived In-111 activity was time-independent in lesion-resistant regions of aortas from normal and hypercholesterolemic animals (mean 2.9 × 10-6 percent injected activity per milligram tissue [%IA/mg]) and in lesion-prone regions of normal aortas (mean 7.1 × 10-6 %IA/mg). In contrast, activity in sudanophilic lesions of hypercholesterolemic rabbit aortas reached a peak of 31 × 10-6 %IA/mg at 92 hours postinjection. The mean ratio between activity in lesions versus lesion-resistant regions described a broad convex curve with minima of 4:1 at 14 hours and 136 hours and a peak of 14:1 measured at 72 hours postinjection. The mean ratio between In-111 in lesions and blood followed a sigmoid curve, rising exponentially from 1:25 at 14 hours to 1:3 by 72 hours postinjection. We conclude that optimal signal-to-noise ratios for monitoring atheroma-associated LDL-derived radioactivity occur late, not before about 3 days postinjection. Therefore, LDL labeled with In-111 or even longer-lived radionuclides holds the greatest promise for effective clinical nuclear imaging of atherosclerosis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)189-198
Number of pages10
JournalCardiovascular Pathology
Volume1
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1992

Funding

We thank Drs. Robert Wissler, Seymour Glagov, and Chris Zarins for their counsel and gifts of dietary cholesterol; Dr. Ernest Page for the use of his autoradiographic facility; and Mr. Gordon Bowie for photographic assistance. We are grateful to Dr. Graziana Lupattelli (30) for providing a copy of her manuscript prior to publication. This work was supported by grants to Drs. Hay and Harper from the National Institutes of Health (HL 39293) the Louis Block Fund, and the Department of Energy (DE-FG02-87ER60614 and DE-FG02-88ER60725) and by a Kraft Medical Student Research Award to Dr Casalino.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pathology and Forensic Medicine
  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

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