Magnetic resonance microscopy quantifies the disease progression in Marfan syndrome mice

Purpose: To use noninvasive magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) to examine aneurysmal disease in the mouse model of Marfan syndrome (MFS).

Materials and methods: A total of eight wild-type (WT) and MFS mice were imaged using MRM; four of them at three different time points over an 8-week period and the remaining animals were imaged at one time point. The maximal cross-sectional area of the aorta was measured by manual tracing and by automated means from combined cardiac and respiratory-gated bright-blood images. Relationships between aortic size and age and the differences between WT and mutant mice aortic size were established.

Results: Maximal cross-sectional aortic areas differed significantly (P < 0.05) between WT and mutant mice for all time points, with MFS mice having larger aortic size. There was a positive correlation between aortic size and age in MFS mice (r = 0.80) with a significant increase from the 14th to the 22nd week (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: MRM detected the differences in aortic size between WT and mutant mice over time, demonstrating a potential for noninvasive technique for the assessment of potential therapies in MFS mice.