| Atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of many, potentially lethal, cardiovascular diseases including heart attack and stroke. The initial lesions that can lead to acute, fatal events are often clinically silent. Monocytes and macrophages are key cell types in the inflammatory processes that coexist with the development of atherosclerosis and have been implicated in the genesis and progression of atherosclerotic plaques. The use of inflammatory markers is thus an interesting approach toward the development of non-invasive methods to detect early atherosclerosis. The study presented in this thesis provides preliminary in vitro results on the feasibility of using magnetic resonance (MR) positive contrast agents to label inflammatory cells involved in the early stages of atherosclerosis, and to detect early lesions using MR molecular imaging. |
