Fig. 2

Plaque imaging and feature quantification in vivo with intravenous gadolinium (magnevist) in T1W MRI. a An example of plaque thrombosis by comparison of images of the aorta before and after pharmacologic triggering. The luminal thrombus is shown with a white asterisk in the images of endothelial-injured rabbits fed 1% CHOL. The plaque area is hyperintense with the lumen wall outlined (dotted line). Colorized and contrast enhanced images (labeled as “Processed”) further demonstrated thrombus boundaries and regions of enhanced gadolinium uptake into the plaque, characteristic of highly inflamed tissue. b Quantification of Gd uptake in the plaques measured at 3 months prior to triggering (n = 3 for 1% CHOL and n = 4 for 1% CHOL + injury). The data represent multiple plaques analyzed (4–5 plaques for 1% CHOL and 6–8 plaques per 1% CHOL + injury), with a plaque defined as an area of hyperintensity around the vessel wall, present in at least three consecutive MRI slices of the imaging volume. Gd uptake is higher for most plaques in the injury group as represented by the mean +/− standard error. Asterisk indicates significance with P < 0.05 analyzed with the Student’s t-test (pre-trigger). Enhanced Gd uptake is one of three metrics for predicting vulnerable plaque rupture, which also includes vessel wall area and outward remodeling [29, 32]