OCT Imaging Technology for Developmental Cardiology Research

简介(申请人提供)：心脏病仍然是美国发病率和死亡率的主要原因，2001年有超过140万人死于心脏病。技术上的限制阻碍了我们改善一组重要的心脏疾病--先天性心脏病--影响的能力。这个五年计划中描述的多学科项目将开发和验证基于新兴成像技术--光学相干层析成像(OCT)的新的调查和诊断技术。OCT能够在体内以微米级的分辨率同时对小生物样品的结构和功能进行成像，并有可能测量机电事件。有必要采取多学科方法来针对这些新工具的开发，以提高我们对先天性心脏病机制的了解。具体目标1：开发和演示OCT成像技术在发育心脏病学研究中的应用，并传播给合作者进行验证和基线研究。具体目标2：开发和演示图像分析和可视化方法，并分发给合作者进行验证和基线研究。具体目标3：验证和应用OCT技术研究鸡胚胎心脏形态发生的正常和异常。纵向分析。具体目标4：验证和应用OCT技术来筛选和分析转基因小鼠的心脏缺陷。圆锥干和室壁异常的分析。该项目的目标是开发和验证一套新的工具，该工具将在迄今无法达到的分辨率范围内结合结构和生理信息，以更好地了解正常和异常心脏形态发生的机制。通过对正常和异常心脏形态发生的鸡和小鼠模型的基线研究，将建立这些工具的用途，使以前不可能进行的实验成为可能。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Heart disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, responsible for over 1,400,000 deaths in 2001. Limitations in technology have hampered our ability to ameliorate the impact of an important group of cardiac disorders, congenital heart disease. The multi-disciplinary project described in this five-year proposal will develop and validate new investigative and diagnostic technologies based on the emerging imaging technique, optical coherence tomography (OCT). OCT is capable of simultaneous imaging of structure and function in small biological samples with micrometer-scale resolution in vivo and in real time, and is potentially capable of measuring electromechanical events. A multi-disciplinary approach is necessary to target the development of these new tools for the purpose of improving our understanding of the mechanisms of congenital heart disease. Specific Aim 1: Develop and demonstrate OCT imaging technologies for developmental cardiology research applications and disseminate to collaborators for validation and baseline studies. Specific Aim 2: Develop and demonstrate image analysis and visualization methods and disseminate to collaborators for validation and baseline studies. Specific Aim 3: Validate and apply OCT technologies to investigations of normal and abnormal cardiac morphogenesis in the chick embryo. Longitudinal analysis. Specific Aim 4: Validate and apply OCT technologies to screen and analyze cardiac defects in genetically altered mouse lines. Analysis of conotruncal and ventricular wall abnormalities. The goal of this project is to develop and validate a novel set of tools that will combine structural and physiologic information at heretofore unachievable resolution scales for better insight into the mechanisms of normal and abnormal cardiac morphogenesis. The utility of these tools to enable experiments that were previously not possible will be established by baseline studies of chick and mouse models of normal and abnormal cardiac morphogenesis.