Fig. 5
Local 19F signal co-localizes with accumulation of monocytes/macrophages. High-resolution ex vivo 1H and fused 1H/19F MR images at 9.4 T show a robust 19F signal derived from the vascular wall after injury. Immunofluorescence staining using CD163 (red, open arrowheads) and CD68 (green, filled arrowheads) antibody confirmed a predominant adventitial infiltration of monocytes/macrophages. A Monocytes/macrophages were counted from at least 10 histological cross sections per artery showing a large increase after BA + ECDN while the increase after BA remained only minor (B). Local 19F SNR measurements at 3 T were performed cross-sectional in correspondence to histologic cell count revealing an exact co-localization along the whole length of the artery (C) and 19F signal intensity correlates to monocyte/macrophage count (D). BA = Balloon Angioplasty; ECDN = Endothelial Denudation; SNR = Signal-to-noise ratio