ULTRASOUND BIOMICROSCOPY OF SMALL ANIMAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY WITH THE VEVO 77

该子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的共享仪器赠款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是用于资助的，不一定是研究者的机构。描述（由申请人提供）：弗吉尼亚大学有一个广泛的NIH资助的研究计划，在心血管和癌症研究使用小鼠。目前，广泛使用4.7特斯拉磁共振成像（MRI）扫描仪。然而，MRI具有技术限制（例如，帧速率）并且图像采集速率太慢而不能允许期望的成像吞吐量。我们已经广泛研究了使用西门子红杉超声扫描仪在小鼠中进行基于超声的心脏成像。红杉的图像分辨率几乎不足以满足我们目前的研究活动。然而，拟议购买的VisualSonics Vevo 770小动物超声成像系统将有助于提高空间分辨率，在所有三个维度中的每一个维度上提高两到三倍。这将显著提高我们分辨左心室（LV）边界的能力，从而量化LV功能。更重要的是，它将使新的研究，是不可能进行的红杉。例如，我们预期能够非侵入性地跟踪结合分子靶向微泡在体内的位置，具有极好的解剖背景信息。它还将使我们能够在血管疾病的小鼠和大鼠模型中对血流和灌注进行高分辨率的定量评估。Vevo扫描仪的高分辨率（90微米x 30微米）为各种图像分析/处理技术提供了上级输入数据。例如，使用高速自动化技术可以更可靠和准确地评估血管和器官壁。高分辨率还使得能够自动识别心肌肌肉运动的精细细节，从而在小鼠心脏中提供基于超声的应变成像。因此，Vevo 770将使UVA的研究人员能够开发一些新技术和应用，如果没有这种尖端仪器，这些技术和应用就无法开发。此外，在UVA，我们很幸运能够将我们的新超声技术与已经验证的基于MRI的LV量化和应变成像方法进行基准测试。从长远来看，Vevo 770扫描仪可以对肿瘤生长和血管生成进行无创评估。PI还与VisualSonics建立了密切的技术关系，以便UVA在3D采集和重建，图像处理和应变测量领域开发的技术可以由VisualSonics商业化。公共卫生声明：购买Vevo系统将使我们能够在对各种心脏和人体循环疾病进展的基本了解方面取得快速进展。它还将允许分析这些条件的可能治疗方法。在这一领域，通常的做法是使用小鼠进行初步实验，这是出于一些实际原因-在遗传水平上与人类物种相似，能够操纵基因组，成本低，住房便宜等。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Shared Instrumentation Grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the grant, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Virginia has an extensive NIH funded research program in cardiovascular and cancer research using mice. Currently, extensive use is made of a 4.7 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner. However, the MRI has technical limitations (e.g. frame rate) and image acquisition rate is too slow to permit the imaging throughput that is desired. We have already extensively investigated the use of a Siemens Sequoia ultrasound scanner to perform ultrasound-based cardiac imaging in mice. The Sequoia's image resolution is scarcely adequate for our current research activities. However, the proposed purchase of a VisualSonics Vevo 770 small animal ultrasound imaging system will facilitate improvements in spatial resolution by a factor of two to three in each of all three dimensions. This will enable significant improvement in our ability to resolve left ventricular (LV) borders and thus quantify LV function. More importantly, it will enable new research that is impossible to conduct on the Sequoia. For example, we anticipate being able to noninvasively track the location of bound molecular targeted microbubbles in vivo with superb anatomic contextual information. It will also enable us to make high resolution quantitative assessments of blood flow and perfusion in mouse and rat models of vascular disease. The superb resolution of the Vevo scanner (90 microns x 30 microns) provides superior input data for various image analysis / processing techniques. For example, vessel and organ walls may be more reliably and accurately assessed using high-speed, automated techniques. The high resolution also enables the fine detail of myocardial muscle motion to be automatically discerned, thus providing for ultrasound-based strain imaging in the mouse heart. Thus the Vevo 770 will enable investigators at UVA to develop several new technologies and applications that could not be developed without this cutting-edge instrumentation. Furthermore, at UVA, we are fortunate to be able to benchmark our new ultrasound techniques against already validated MRI-based approaches to LV quantification and strain imaging. Longer term, the Vevo 770 scanner may enable noninvasive assessment of tumor growth and angiogenesis. The PI has also established a close technical relationship with VisualSonics so that technology developed at UVA in the areas of 3D acquisition and reconstruction, image processing and strain measurement, may be commercialized by VisualSonics. Public Health Statement: The purchase of the Vevo system will permit rapid progress to be made in fundamental understanding of the progress of various forms of heart and human circulation diseases. It will also allow the analysis of possible treatments for these conditions. It is common practice to use mice for initial experimentation in this field for a number of practical reasons - similarity to human species at the genetic level, ability to manipulate the genome, low cost, inexpensive housing, etc.