The role of preclinical SPECT in oncological and neurological research in combination with either CT or MRI

Preclinical imaging with SPECT combined with CT or MRI is used more and more frequently and has proven to be very useful in translational research. In this article, an overview of current preclinical research applications and trends of SPECT combined with CT or MRI, mainly in tumour imaging and neuroscience imaging, is given and the advan- tages and disadvantages of the different approaches are de- scribed. Today SPECT and CT systems are often integrated into a single device (commonly called a SPECT/CT system), whereas at present combined SPECT and MRI is almost always carried out with separate systems and fiducial markers to combine the separately acquired images. While preclinical SPECT/CT is most widely applied in oncology research, SPECT combined with MRI (SPECT/MRI when integrated in one system) offers the potential for both neuroscience applications and oncological applications. Today CT and MRI are still mainly used to localize radiotracer binding and to improve SPECT quantification, although both CT and MRI have additional potential. Future technology developments may include fast sequential or simultaneous acquisition of (dynamic) multimodality data, spectroscopy, fMRI along with high-resolution anatomic MRI, advanced CT procedures, and combinations of more than two modalities such as combina- tions of SPECT, PET, MRI and CT all together. This will all strongly depend on new technologies. With further advances in biology and chemistry for imaging molecular targets and (patho)physiological processes in vivo, the introduction of new imaging procedures and promising new radiopharmaceu- ticals in clinical practice may be accelerated

Multimodality Imaging of Abnormal Vascular Perfusion and Morphology in Preclinical 9L Gliosarcoma Model

This study demonstrates that a dynamic susceptibility contrast-magnetic resonance imaging (DSC-MRI) perfusion parameter may indicate vascular abnormality in a brain tumor model and reflects an effect of dexamethasone treatment. In addition, X-ray computed tomography (CT) measurements of vascular tortuosity and tissue markers of vascular morphology were performed to investigate the underpinnings of tumor response to dexamethasone.One cohort of Fisher 344 rats (N = 13), inoculated intracerebrally with 9L gliosarcoma cells, was treated with dexamethasone (i.p. 3 mg/kg/day) for five consecutive days, and another cohort (N = 11) was treated with equal volume of saline. Longitudinal DSC-MRI studies were performed at the first (baseline), third and fifth day of treatments. Relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) was significantly reduced on the third day of dexamethasone treatment (0.65 ± .13) as compared to the fifth day during treatment (1.26 ±.19, p < 0.05). In saline treated rats, relative CBV gradually increased during treatment (0.89 ±.13, 1.00 ± .21, 1.13 ± .23) with no significant difference on the third day of treatment (p>0.05). In separate serial studies, microfocal X-ray CT of ex vivo brain specimens (N = 9) and immunohistochemistry for endothelial cell marker anti-CD31 (N = 8) were performed. Vascular morphology of ex vivo rat brains from micro-CT analysis showed hypervascular characteristics in tumors, and both vessel density (41.32 ± 2.34 branches/mm(3), p<0.001) and vessel tortuosity (p<0.05) were significantly reduced in tumors of rats treated with dexamethasone compared to saline (74.29 ± 3.51 branches/mm(3)). The vascular architecture of rat brain tissue was examined with anti-CD31 antibody, and dexamethasone treated tumor regions showed reduced vessel area (16.45 ± 1.36 µm(2)) as compared to saline treated tumor regions (30.83 ± 4.31 µm(2), p<0.001) and non-tumor regions (22.80 ± 1.11 µm(2), p<0.01).Increased vascular density and tortuosity are culprit to abnormal perfusion, which is transiently reduced during dexamethasone treatment

Towards standardization of echocardiography for the evaluation of left ventricular function in adult rodents : a position paper of the ESC Working Group on Myocardial Function

This work was supported by AIRC IG grant 2016 19032 to S.Z.; FEDER through Compete 2020 –Programa Operacional Competitividade E Internacionalização(POCI), the project DOCNET (norte-01-0145-feder-000003), supported by Norte Portugal regional operational programme (norte 2020), under the Portugal 2020 partnership agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the project NETDIAMOND (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016385), supported by European Structural And Investment Funds, Lisbon’s regional operational program 2020 to I.P.F.; grants from FSR-FNRS, FRC (Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc) and from Action de Recherche Concertée (UCLouvain) to C.B., E.P.D. and L.B; the ERA-Net-CVD project MacroERA,01KL1706, FP7-Homage N° 305507, and IMI2-CARDIATEAM (N° 821508)to S.H.,the DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research) and the German Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF)to F.W., T.E. and L.C., the Netherlands Cardiovascular Research Initiative, an initiative with support of the Dutch Heart Foundation, CVON2016-Early HFPEF, 2015-10, CVON She-PREDICTS, grant 2017-21, CVON Arena-PRIME, 2017-18, Flemish Research FoundationFWO G091018N and FWO G0B5930N to S.H.; Federico II University/Ricerca di Ateneo grant to C.G..T.; the European Research Area Networks on Cardiovascular Diseases (ERA-CVD) [LYMIT-DIS 2016, MacroERA], Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [1160718N] to I.C; the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG TH903/20-1, KFO311), the Transregio-SFB INST 95/15641 and the EU Horizon 2020 project Cardioregenix (GA 825670)to T.TPeer reviewedPostprin