Atherosclerotic plaque ruptures have been determined as the most common underlying cause of acute coronary syndromes and stroke. Currently, the standard of care for plaque rupture risk is based on the amount of luminal stenosis presented in a particular vessel; however, X-ray angiographic studies have shown that plaques at risk of rupture generally show <50% luminal narrowing. These findings explicate the need for other, more accurate methods of identifying problem lesions prior to the rupture event. Unfortunately, the study of thrombotic events and vulnerable plaque lesions in humans is difficult due to the spontaneity of rupture and the lengthy time course of disease progression. To further the understanding of plaque rupture risk in light of vulnerability detection, a rabbit model of atherothrombosis was used in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI has been validated as a suitable imaging modality for in vivo, non-invasive detection of atherosclerosis and has provided quantitative predictors of plaques at risk of rupture. Additionally, the rabbit model has been shown, histologically, to present 6 of the 8 human plaque types classified by the American Heart Association.
The first portion of this dissertation work focuses on using MRI to serially image rabbits undergoing the atherosclerotic protocol in order to assess rupture risk at the various time points. Previous work has determined that an increase in the vessel remodeling ratio (which hides a large plaque in the vessel wall) and contrast uptake (which indicates inflammation) are both characteristics of increased rupture risk. By obtaining these parameters at various time points in the disease progression, it was possible to determine when a certain plaque displays a heightened risk of rupture. The second portion of this work tested the efficacy of a pro-resolving molecule, lipoxin (an endogenous molecule), in reducing atherosclerotic disease state, specifically rupture with a luminal thrombus. Using chronic administration of this molecule in the same rabbit model of atherosclerosis yielded a faint reduction in atherosclerotic severity based on the parameters of decreased vessel lipid content and decreased thrombotic events presented in the treated group.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/15207 |
| Date | 12 March 2016 |
| Creators | Pham, Tuan A. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds