UNLABELLED: Targeted contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging is increasingly being recognized as a powerful imaging tool for the detection and quantification of tumor angiogenesis at the molecular level. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a …

Purpose: To develop and validate a dual-targeted ultrasound imaging agent that attaches to both vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2) and αvβ3-integrin, and to compare the ultrasonic imaging signal obtained from this dual-targeted agent …

BACKGROUND: In atherosclerosis, local generation of reactive oxygen species amplifies the inflammatory response and contributes to plaque vulnerability. We used molecular imaging to test whether inhibition of NADPH oxidase with apocynin would reduce …

Urogenital schistosomiasis, chronic infection by Schistosoma haematobium, affects 112 million people worldwide. S. haematobium worm oviposition in the bladder wall leads to granulomatous inflammation, fibrosis, and egg expulsion into the urine. Despite …

OBJECTIVE: Cardiovascular interventions induce damage to the vessel wall making antithrombotic therapy inevitable until complete endothelial recovery. Without a method to accurately determine the endothelial status, many patients undergo prolonged …

Efficient and safe drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) remains to be one of the major challenges of biomedical and (nano-) pharmaceutical research. Here, we show that poly(butyl cyanoacrylate)-based microbubbles (MB), carrying ultrasmall …

AIMS: Inflammation is a significant contributor to cardiovascular disease and its complications; however, whether the myocardial inflammatory response is harmonized after cardiac injury remains to be determined. Some receptors of the innate immune system, …

In this study, we examined the combined effect of aging and myocardial infarction on left ventricular remodeling, focusing on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9-dependent mechanisms. We enrolled 55 C57BL/6J wild type (WT) and 85 MMP-9 Null (Null) mice of …

PURPOSE: Fatigue is the most common and distressing symptom reported by cancer patients during and after treatment. Tumor growth increases oxidative stress and cytokine production, which causes skeletal muscle wasting and cardiac dysfunction. The purpose …

Aim of this study was to provide an echocardiographic protocol for the description of the normal murine venous reservoir (atrium, appendage and pulmonary veins) and to investigate the possibility to use this approach to discriminate changes on left atrium …