Browsing by Author "Phinikaridou, Alkystis"

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    Advances in molecular imaging of atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction: shedding new light on in vivo cardiovascular biology
    (2012) Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Andía Kohnenkampf, Marcelo Edgardo; Shah, Ajay M.; Botnar, René M.
    Molecular imaging of the cardiovascular system heavily relies on the development of new imaging probes and technologies to facilitate visualization of biological processes underlying or preceding disease. Molecular imaging is a highly active research discipline that has seen tremendous growth over the past decade. It has broadened our understanding of oncologic, neurologic, and cardiovascular diseases by providing new insights into the in vivo biology of disease progression and therapeutic interventions. As it allows for the longitudinal evaluation of biological processes, it is ideally suited for monitoring treatment response. In this review, we will concentrate on the major accomplishments and advances in the field of molecular imaging of atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction with a special focus on magnetic resonance imaging.
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    Assessment of hepatic fatty acids during non-alcoholic steatohepatitis progression using magnetic resonance spectroscopy
    (2021) Xavier, Aline; Zacconi, Flavia C. M.; Santana Romo, Fabián Mauricio; Eykyn, Thomas R.; Lavin, Begona; Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Botnar, Rene; Uribe, Sergio; Esteban Oyarzun, Juan; Cabrera, Daniel; Arrese, Marco; Andia, Marcelo E.
    Abstract: Introduction and objectives: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) encompasses a spectrum of liver abnormalities including steatosis, steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Liver biopsy remains the gold standard method to determine the disease stage in NAFLD but is an invasive and risky procedure. Studies have previously reported that changes in intrahepatic fatty acids (FA) composition are related to the progression of NAFLD, mainly in its early stages. The aim of this study was to characterize the liver FA composition in mice fed a Choline-deficient L-amino-defined (CDAA) diet at different stages of NAFLD using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Methods: We used in-vivo MRS to perform a longitudinal characterization of hepatic FA changes in NAFLD mice for 10 weeks. We validated our findings with ex-vivo MRS, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and histology. Results: In-vivo and ex-vivo results showed that livers from CDAA-fed mice exhibit a significant increase in liver FA content as well as a change in FA composition compared with control mice. After 4 weeks of CDAA diet, a decrease in polyunsaturated and an increase in monounsaturated FA were observed. These changes were associated with the appearance of early stages of steatohepatitis, confirmed by histology (NAFLD Activity Score (NAS) = 4.5). After 10 weeks of CDAA-diet, the liver FA composition remained stable while the NAS increased further to 6 showing a combination of early and late stages of steatohepatitis. Conclusion: Our results suggest that monitoring lipid composition in addition to total water/fat with MRS may yield additional insights that can be translated for non-invasive stratification of high-risk NAFLD patients.
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    Characterization of hepatic fatty acids using magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the assessment of treatment response to metformin in an eNOS−/− mouse model of metabolic nonalcoholic fatty liver disease/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis
    (2023) Lavin, Begoña; Eykyn, Thomas; Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Xavier, Aline; Kumar, Shravan; Buqué, Xabier; Aspichueta, Patricia; Sing-Long C., Carlos A.; Arrese, Marco; Botnar, René Michael; Andía Kohnenkampf, Marcelo Edgardo
    Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Liver biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosis and staging of disease. There is a clinical need for noninvasive diagnostic tools for risk stratification, follow-up, and monitoring treatment response that are currently lacking, as well as preclinical models that recapitulate the etiology of the human condition. We have characterized the progression of NAFLD in eNOS−/− mice fed a high fat diet (HFD) using noninvasive Dixon-based magnetic resonance imaging and single voxel STEAM spectroscopy-based protocols to measure liver fat fraction at 3 T. After 8 weeks of diet intervention, eNOS−/− mice exhibited significant accumulation of intra-abdominal and liver fat compared with control mice. Liver fat fraction measured by 1H-MRS in vivo showed a good correlation with the NAFLD activity score measured by histology. Treatment of HFD-fed NOS3−/− mice with metformin showed significantly reduced liver fat fraction and altered hepatic lipidomic profile compared with untreated mice. Our results show the potential of in vivo liver MRI and 1H-MRS to noninvasively diagnose and stage the progression of NAFLD and to monitor treatment response in an eNOS−/− murine model that represents the classic NAFLD phenotype associated with metabolic syndrome.
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    Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for the detection of ruptured coronary plaques in patients with acute myocardial infarction
    (2017) Jansen, Christian H. P.; Perera, Divaka; Wiethoff, Andrea J.; Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Razavi, Reza M.; Rinaldi, Aldo; Marber, Mike S.; Greil, Gerald F.; Nagel, Eike; Botnar, René Michael; Maintz, David; Redwood, Simon; Makowski, Marcus
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    Development of a tropoelastin-binding MR contrast agent for in vivo imaging of impaired elastogenesis in atherosclerosis
    (2015) Andía Kohnenkampf, Marcelo Edgardo; Botnar, René Michael; Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Lacerda, Sara
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    Flow-independent 3D whole-heart vessel wall imaging using an interleaved T2-preparation acquisition
    (2013) Andía Kohnenkampf, Marcelo Edgardo; Henningsson, Markus; Hussain, Tarique; Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Protti, Andrea; Greil, Gerald; Botnar, René Michael
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    Imaging the extracellular matrix in prevalent cardiovascular diseases
    (MDPI AG, 2020) Chaher, Nadia; Hajhosseiny, Reza; Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Botnar, René Michael
    The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a highly complex macromolecular network present in all tissues and organs. The ECM is continuously remodelling under an orchestrated process facilitated by many matrix-degrading and matrix-synthesising enzymes in both health and disease. Disturbance of this balance can be the result of or can lead to various diseases. In cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), changes to the ECM are evident in conditions including: atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction (MI), venous thromboembolism (VTE) and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). ECM proteins and ECM regulating enzymes are differently expressed in various CVDs. Most importantly, the altered deposition, macromolecule arrangement and activity of the ECM makes it an attractive marker of disease onset, pathogenesis and progression. Many medical imaging modalities allow disease assessment by exploiting native image contrast, by using non-targeted or by using protein or cell specific (targeted) imaging probes. However, the ability to directly visualise and quantify changes in specific ECM proteins enhances our understanding of the biological role of these proteins, enables monitoring of disease progression and response to treatment and may improve patient diagnosis and allocation of personalised therapies. This review focuses on the biochemistry of the major extracellular matrix proteins and advancements in the development of ECM-targeted probes for molecular imaging of CVD, particularly for applications of molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and position emission tomography (PET) imaging.
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    Increased vascular permeability is a surrogate marker of atherosclerotic plaque instability
    (2015) Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Andía Kohnenkampf, Marcelo Edgardo; Plaza, Begona L.; Saha, Prakash; Smith, Alberto; Botnar, René Michael
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    MRI with gadofosveset : a potential marker for permeability in myocardial infarction
    (2018) Lavin, Begoña; Protti, Andrea; Lorrio, Silvia; Dong, Xuebin; Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Botnar, René Michael; Shah, Ajay
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    Noninvasive Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evaluation of Endothelial Permeability in Murine Atherosclerosis Using an Albumin-Binding Contrast Agent
    (LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS, 2012) Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Andia, Marcelo E.; Protti, Andrea; Indermuchle, Andreas; Shah, Ajay; Smith, Alberto; Warley, Alice; Botnar, Rene M.
    Backgound-Endothelial dysfunction promotes atherosclerosis and precedes acute cardiovascular events. We investigated wether in vivo magnetic resonance imaging with the use of an albumin-binding contrast agent, gadofosveset, could detect endothelial damage associated with atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE(-/-)) mice. Furthermore, we tested whether magnetic resonance imaging could noninvasively assess endothelial function by measuring the endothelial-dependent vasolidation in response to acetycholine.
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    Quantitative MRI of Endothelial Permeability and (Dys)function in Atherosclerosis
    (2021) Lavín Plaza, Begoña; Andía Kohnenkampf, Marcelo Edgardo; Saha, Prakash; Botnar, René Michael; Phinikaridou, Alkystis
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    Simultaneous Assessment of Cardiac Inflammation and Extracellular Matrix Remodeling After Myocardial Infarction
    (2018) Ramos, Isabel T.; Henningsson, Markus; Nezafat, Maryam; Lavín, Begoña; Lorrio, Silvia; Gebhardt, Pierre; Protti, Andrea; Eykyn, Thomas R.; Andía Kohnenkampf, Marcelo Edgardo; Botnar, René Michael; Floögel, Ulrich; Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Shah, Ajay M.
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    Simultaneous bright- and black-blood whole-heart MRI for noncontrast enhanced coronary lumen and thrombus visualization
    (2018) Ginami, Giulia; Neji, Radhouene; Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Whitaker, John; Botnar, René Michael; Prieto Vásquez, Claudia
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    Tropoelastin: A Novel Marker for Plaque Progression and Instability
    (2018) Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Lacerda, Sara; Lavin, Begona; Andía Kohnenkampf, Marcelo Edgardo; Smith, Alberto; Saha, Prakash; Botnar, René Michael
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    Venous Thrombosis Accelerates Atherosclerosis in Mice
    (2023) Saha, Prakash; Gutmann, Clemens; Kingdon, Jack; Dregan, Alexandru; Bertolaccini, Laura; Grover, Steven P.; Patel, Ashish S.; Modarai, Bijan; Lyons, Oliver; Schulz, Christian; Andía Kohnenkampf, Marcelo Edgardo; Phinikaridou, Alkystis; Botnar, René Michael; Smith, Alberto