AUTHOR=Mo Xinhai , Yan Fei , Zhang Bo 

TITLE=Molecular Ultrasound Monitoring of Early Artery Injury After Carotid Balloon Angioplasty

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2018.01569

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2018.01569

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=<p>Cardiovascular intervention is a common treatment procedure for many cardiovascular diseases. But restenosis often occurs after these procedures, greatly discounting their long-term therapeutic effects. Early detection of endothelial denudation is helpful for the diagnosis and prevention of restenosis. Here, we fabricated targeted microbubbles by conjugating anti-collagen IV antibodies to the surface of biotinylated microbubbles (MB<sub>ColIV</sub>) and applied them for ultrasound molecular imaging of endothelial injury at early stage. Our results showed that the MB<sub>ColIV</sub>, with a typical multi-peak particle distribution, was successfully constructed, which was confirmed by Alexa Fluor® 555-labeled secondary antibody. <italic>Ex vivo</italic> adhesion of microbubbles revealed that MB<sub>ColIV</sub> can effectively and specially bind to the surface of balloon-injured carotid artery. The <italic>in vivo</italic> animal experiments showed ultrasound molecular imaging signals from carotid artery-injured rats administrated with MB<sub>ColIV</sub> were significantly higher than those administrated with isotype control microbubbles. Histological staining of the left carotid common artery revealed that collagen IV was obviously exposed after endothelium denudation in balloon-injured artery. In conclusion, our current study provides an effective approach to detect vascular injury at the early stage and a potential platform for image-guided therapy to vascular injury.</p>