TY - JOUR T1 - Imaging of VEGF Receptor in a Rat Myocardial Infarction Model Using PET JF - Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO - J Nucl Med SP - 667 LP - 673 DO - 10.2967/jnumed.107.040576 VL - 49 IS - 4 AU - Martin Rodriguez-Porcel AU - Weibo Cai AU - Olivier Gheysens AU - Jürgen K. Willmann AU - Kai Chen AU - Hui Wang AU - Ian Y. Chen AU - Lina He AU - Joseph C. Wu AU - Zi-bo Li AU - Khalid A. Mohamedali AU - Sehoon Kim AU - Michael G. Rosenblum AU - Xiaoyuan Chen AU - Sanjiv Sam Gambhir Y1 - 2008/04/01 UR - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/49/4/667.abstract N2 - Myocardial infarction (MI) leads to left ventricular (LV) remodeling, which leads to the activation of growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). However, the kinetics of a growth factor's receptor expression, such as VEGF, in the living subject has not yet been described. We have developed a PET tracer (64Cu-DOTA-VEGF121 [DOTA is 1,4,7,10-tetraazadodecane-N,N′,N″,N‴-tetraacetic acid]) to image VEGF receptor (VEGFR) expression after MI in the living subject. Methods: In Sprague–Dawley rats, MI was induced by ligation of the left coronary artery and confirmed by ultrasound (n = 8). To image and study the kinetics of VEGFRs, 64Cu-DOTA-VEGF121 PET scans were performed before MI induction (baseline) and on days 3, 10, 17, and 24 after MI. Sham-operated animals served as controls (n = 3). Results: Myocardial origin of the 64Cu-DOTA-VEGF121 signal was confirmed by CT coregistration and autoradiography. VEGFR specificity of the 64Cu-DOTA-VEGF121 probe was confirmed by in vivo use of a 64Cu-DOTA-VEGFmutant. Baseline myocardial uptake of 64Cu-DOTA-VEGF121 was minimal (0.30 ± 0.07 %ID/g [percentage injected dose per gram of tissue]); it increased significantly after MI (day 3, 0.97 ± 0.05 %ID/g; P < 0.05 vs. baseline) and remained elevated for 2 wk (up to day 17 after MI), after which time it returned to baseline levels. Conclusion: We demonstrate the feasibility of imaging VEGFRs in the myocardium. In summary, we imaged and described the kinetics of 64Cu-DOTA-VEGF121 uptake in a rat model of MI. Studies such as the one presented here will likely play a major role when studying pathophysiology and assessing therapies in different animal models of disease and, potentially, in patients. ER -