An advanced glycation endproduct (AGE)-rich diet promotes accumulation of AGEs in Achilles tendon.

Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs) accumulate in long-lived tissue proteins like collagen in bone and tendon causing modification of the biomechanical properties. This has been hypothesized to raise the risk of orthopedic injury such as bone fractures and tendon ruptures. We evaluated the relationship between AGE content in the diet and accumulation of AGEs in weight-bearing animal Achilles tendon. Two groups of mice (C57BL/6Ntac) were fed with either high-fat diet low in AGEs high-fat diet (HFD) (n = 14) or normal diet high in AGEs (ND) (n = 11). AGE content in ND was six to 50-fold higher than HFD The mice were sacrificed at week 40 and Achilles and tail tendons were carefully excised to compare weight and nonweight-bearing tendons. The amount of the AGEs carboxymethyllysine (CML), methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolone (MG-H1) and carboxyethyllysine (CEL) in Achilles and tail tendon was measured using ultraperformance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) and pentosidine with high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescent detection. AGEs in Achilles tendon were higher than in tail tendon for CML (P < 0.0001), CEL (P < 0.0001), MG-H1 and pentosidine (for both ND and HFD) (P < 0.0001). The AGE-rich diet (ND) resulted in an increase in CML (P < 0.0001), MG-H1 (P < 0.001) and pentosidine (P < 0.0001) but not CEL, in Achilles and tail tendon. This is the first study to provide evidence for AGE accumulation in injury-prone, weight-bearing Achilles tendon associated with intake of an AGE-rich diet. This indicates that food-derived AGEs may alter tendon properties and the development of tendon injuries.

Positron emission tomography of the vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque in man--a contemporary review.

Atherosclerosis is the primary underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). It is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world today and is set to become the prevailing disease and major cause of death worldwide by 2020. In the 1950s surgical intervention was introduced to treat symptomatic patients with high-grade carotid artery stenosis due to atherosclerosis--a procedure known as carotid endarterectomy (CEA). By removing the atherosclerotic plaque from the affected carotid artery of these patients, CEA is beneficial by preventing subsequent ipsilateral ischemic stroke. However, it is known that patients with low to intermediate artery stenosis may still experience ischemic events, leading clinicians to consider plaque composition as an important feature of atherosclerosis. Today molecular imaging can be used for characterization, visualization and quantification of cellular and subcellular physiological processes as they take place in vivo; using this technology we can obtain valuable information on atherosclerostic plaque composition. Applying molecular imaging clinically to atherosclerotic disease therefore has the potential to identify atherosclerotic plaques vulnerable to rupture. This could prove to be an important tool for the selection of patients for CEA surgery in a health system increasingly focused on individualized treatment. This review focuses on current advances and future developments of in vivo atherosclerosis PET imaging in man.

(18)F-FDG imaging of human atherosclerotic carotid plaques reflects gene expression of the key hypoxia marker HIF-1α.

To investigate the association between gene expression of key molecular markers of hypoxia and inflammation in atherosclerotic carotid lesions with 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose ((18)F-FDG) uptake as determined clinically by positron emission tomography (PET). Studies using PET have demonstrated (18)F-FDG-uptake in patients with confirmed plaques of the carotid artery. Inflammatory active or "vulnerable" plaques progressively increase in bulk, develop necrotic cores, poor vessel-wall vascularization and become prone to hypoxia. We used quantitative polymerase-chain reaction (qPCR) to determine gene expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) and cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68) on plaques recovered by carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in 18 patients. Gene expression was compared with (18)F-FDG-uptake quantified as the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) on co-registered PET/computed tomography (CT) scans performed the day before CEA. Immunohistochemistry was used to validate target-gene protein expression. In univariate linear regression analysis HIF-1α was significantly correlated with (18)F-FDG-uptake (SUVmax) as was CD68. A two-tailed Pearson regression model demonstrated that HIF-1α and CD68 gene expression co-variated and accordingly when entering the variables into multivariate linear regression models with SUV-values as dependent variables, HIF-1α was eliminated in the final models. (18)F-FDG-uptake (SUVmax) is correlated with HIF-1α gene expression indicating an association between hypoxia and glucose metabolism in vivo. The marker of inflammation CD68 is also associated with (18)F-FDG-uptake (SUVmax). As CD68 and HIF-1α gene expression co-variate their information is overlapping.

Feasibility of simultaneous PET/MR of the carotid artery: first clinical experience and comparison to PET/CT.

The study aimed at comparing PET/MR to PET/CT for imaging the carotid arteries in patients with known increased risk of atherosclerosis. Six HIV-positive men underwent sequential PET/MR and PET/CT of the carotid arteries after injection of 400 MBq of (18)F-FDG. PET/MR was performed a median of 131 min after injection. Subsequently,PET/CT was performed. Regions of interest (ROI) were drawn slice by slice to include the carotid arteries and standardized uptake values (SUV) were calculated from both datasets independently. Quantitative comparison of (18)F-FDG uptake revealed a high congruence between PET data acquired using the PET/MR system compared to the PET/CT system. The mean difference for SUVmean was -0.18 (p < 0.001) and -0.14 for SUVmax (p < 0.001) indicating a small but significant bias towards lower values using the PET/MR system. The 95% limits of agreement were -0.55 to 0.20 for SUVmean and -0.93 to 0.65 for SUVmax. The image quality of the PET/MR allowed for delineation of the carotid vessel wall. The correlations between (18)F-FDG uptake from ROI including both vessel wall and vessel lumen to ROI including only the wall were strong (r = 0.98 for SUVmean and r = 1.00 for SUVmax) indicating that the luminal (18)F-FDG content had minimal influence on the values. The study shows for the first time that simultaneous PET/MR of the carotid arteries is feasible in patients with increased risk of atherosclerosis. Quantification of (18)F-FDG uptake correlated well between PET/MR and PET/CT despite difference in method of PET attenuation correction, reconstruction algorithm, and detector technology.

Silent ischemic heart disease and pericardial fat volume in HIV-infected patients: a case-control myocardial perfusion scintigraphy study.

OBJECTIVES: to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic ischemic heart disease (IHD) in HIV patients by myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) and to determine the value of coronary artery calcium score (CACS), carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and pericardial fat volume as screening tools for detection of IHD in subjects with HIV. BACKGROUND: Patients with HIV seem prone to early development of IHD. METHODS: 105 consecutive HIV patients (mean age 47.4 years; mean duration of HIV 12.3 years; mean CD4+ cell count 636×106/L; all receiving antiretroviral therapy) and 105 controls matched for age, gender and smoking status, without history of IHD were recruited. MPS, CACS, cIMT, pericardial fat volume, and cardiovascular risk scores were measured. RESULTS: HIV patients demonstrated higher prevalence of perfusion defects than controls (18% vs. 0%; p<0.001) despite similar risk scores. Of HIV patients with perfusion defects, 42% had a CACS = 0. CACS and cIMT were similar in HIV patients and controls. HIV patients on average had 35% increased pericardial fat volume and increased concentration of biomarkers of atherosclerosis in the blood. HIV patients with myocardial perfusion defects had increased pericardial fat volume compared with HIV patients without perfusion defects (314±43 vs. 189±12 mL; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: HIV patients had an increased prevalence of silent IHD compared to controls as demonstrated by MPS. The finding was strongly associated with pericardial fat volume, whereas cardiovascular risk scores, cIMT and CACS seem less useful as screening tools for detection of myocardial perfusion defects in HIV patients.