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Assessment of blood volume, vessel size, and the expression of angiogenic factors in two rat glioma models: a longitudinal in vivo and ex vivo study
Author(s) -
Valable Samuel,
Lemasson Benjamin,
Farion Régine,
Beaumont Marine,
Segebarth Christoph,
Remy Chantal,
Barbier Emmanuel L.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
nmr in biomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.278
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1099-1492
pISSN - 0952-3480
DOI - 10.1002/nbm.1278
Subject(s) - ex vivo , glioma , in vivo , angiogenesis , pathology , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , vascular endothelial growth factor , blood vessel , biology , cancer research , radiology , vegf receptors , microbiology and biotechnology
Assessment of angiogenesis may help to determine tumor grade and therapy follow‐up. In vivo imaging methods for non‐invasively monitoring microvasculature evolution are therefore of major interest for tumor management. MRI evaluation of blood volume fraction (BVf) and vessel size index (VSI) was applied to assess the evolution of tumor microvasculature in two rat models of glioma (C6 and RG2). The results show that repeated MRI of BVf and VSI – which involves repeated injection of an iron‐based MR contrast agent – does not affect either the physiological status of the animals or the accuracy of the MR estimates of the microvascular parameters. The MR measurements were found to correlate well with those obtained from histology. They indicate that microvascular evolution differs significantly between the two glioma models, in good agreement with expression of angiogenic factors (vascular endothelial growth factor, angiopoietin‐2) and with activities of matrix metalloproteinases, also assessed in this study. These MRI methods thus provide considerable potential for assessing the response of gliomas to anti‐angiogenic and anti‐vascular agents, in preclinical studies as well as in the clinic. Furthermore, as differences between the fate of tumor microvasculature may underlie differences in therapeutic response, there is a need for preclinical study of several tumor models. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.