Preliminary quantitative analysis of myocardial fatty acid metabolism from fluorescent X-ray computed tomography imaging

Fluorescent X-ray computed tomography (FXCT) using synchrotron radiation reveals the cross-sectional distribution of specific elements in biomedical objects. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of FXCT imaging to assess the myocardial metabolic state quantitatively. Hearts labelled with non-radioactive iodine myocardial fatty acid agent 15-p-(iodophenyl)-3-methylpentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) from cardiomyopathic and normal hamsters were imaged. FXCT images were compared with optical microscope images. Myocardial fatty acid metabolism enhanced with BMIPP was clearly depicted by FXCT, which showed an almost homogeneous image for normal and a heterogeneous image for cardiomyopathic hearts. Morphological structures of the heart such as the left ventricle and myocardial wall were also visualized by FXCT. Optical microscopy showed no fibrosis in normal and slight interstitial fibrosis in cardiomyopathic hearts. In the case of cardiomyopathy, the area of significantly reduced BMIPP uptake was 39% in the short axis of the mid-left ventricle in the FXCT image, whereas a slight interstitial fibrosis of around 12% was recognized by optical microscopy for the same slice. This result indicated that reduced BMIPP uptake was caused by the myocardial fatty acid metabolic abnormality, not by the fibrosis in cardiomyopathy. Thus, FXCT images might be used to assess the quantitative metabolic analysis in small animal models of heart diseases.