Studies that used different nanotheranostic strategies.
a, L-arginine treatment increases arteriogenesis in ischemic tissue. Right femoral arteries of rabbits were surgically ligated, while the left femoral arteries served as controls. After ligation rabbits received 10 days’ treatment of L-arginine or tap water and were imaged by α
vβ
3-integrin–targeted nanoparticle-aided T
1-weighted MRI.
Red color-coded signal enhancement indicates that arteriogenesis is more prevalent after L-arginine treatment. (
Adapted from Winter et al
. [
18]; with permission.)
b, Comparison of perfusion after administration of VEGF-conjugated gold nanoparticles in ischemic hind limbs. After ligation of the femoral artery either VEGF-conjugated nanoparticles or free VEGF was administered. Five weeks post-treatment, VEGF-conjugated nanoparticle–treated mice have improved blood perfusion (
upper panel) compared to free VEGF-treated mice (
lower panel) shown by laser Doppler perfusion imaging. (
Adapted from Kim et al. [
22]; with permission.)
c, A single dose of α
vβ
3 -integrin–targeted fumagillin-loaded nanoparticle treatment suppresses angiogenesis in aortic wall. Cardiac magnetic imaging was performed on hyperlipidemic rabbits at the moment of nanoparticle treatment (week 0), and 1, 3, or 4 weeks post-treatment. The
red overlays on the arterial wall are color-coded percentages of signal enhancement. (
Adapted from Winter et al. [
30]; with permission.)
d, Liposome-encapsulated glucocorticoids have anti-inflammatory effects on atherosclerotic plaques of rabbits. Rabbits received a single dose of liposomes and were imaged by
18F-FDG-PET/CT and DCE-MRI pre and post treatment. The top
two panels show coronal CT,
18F-FDG-PET, and fused imaging slices of the abdominal aorta pre and 1 week post treatment.
Yellow arrows indicate patchy areas with decreased FDG uptake after treatment. DCE-MRI shows a decrease in area under the curve (AUC) 2 days post treatment (
right panel) compared to baseline (
left panel). The color overlays on the MRI images are expressed in percentage of AUC, which has shown to correlate with neovascularization in atherosclerotic arterial walls. (
Adapted from Lobatto et al. [
31•]; with permission)