Abstract
Aneurysms remain a significant medical problem and our current understanding of aneurysm
formation and developmental stages remains incomplete. Noninvasive 3-D micro-ultrasound
(3-D micro-US) imaging technologies designed for noninvasive evaluation of small laboratory
animals diminish risks associated with invasive examination and provide in-situ (live) analysis of vascular morphological changes, which enables quantitative measurements
of live biological specimens. We demonstrate here that aneurysm morphology can be
quantified using 3-D micro-US, and we validate this methodology through comparison
of geometric measures with those obtained from 3-D serial histologic records in a
mouse model of accelerated aneurysm formation. Aneurysms were induced in Balb/C mice
after C57Bl/6 mouse aortic transplant with injections of a pro-inflammatory viral
serpin with a mutated reactive site. Aortic transplant segments were imaged 28 days
after transplant using 3-D micro-US. Upon sacrifice, the aortas were excised and histology
sections (5-μm thick) were digitized, co-registered using mutual information and stacked
to form 3-D images. Surfaces of the mouse aorta and aneurysm were manually segmented
from the 3-D micro-US and histology images. Comparisons with 3-D histology images
demonstrated that 3-D micro-US allowed in-vivo analysis of aneurysm morphology, including total aneurysm area, plaque growth and
lumen size. Linear regression of 3-D US-derived aneurysm and plaque volumes vs. 3-D histology-derived volumes resulted in slopes of 1.30 (R2 = 0.96) and 1.20 (R2 = 0.98), respectively, demonstrating that 3-D micro-US measurements can be used to
track aneurysm growth in a mouse aortic transplant model. (E-mail: [email protected])
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 30, 2007
Accepted:
April 10,
2007
Received in revised form:
February 18,
2007
Received:
September 9,
2006
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
