{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T20:44:52Z","timestamp":1785876292466,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,27]],"date-time":"2022-02-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1645920000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pharmaceuticals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Microvascular disease is frequently found in major pathologies affecting vital organs, such as the brain, heart, and kidneys. While imaging modalities, such as ultrasound, computed tomography, single photon emission computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, are widely used to visualize vascular abnormalities, the ability to non-invasively assess an organ\u2019s total vasculature, including microvasculature, is often limited or cumbersome. Previously, we have demonstrated proof of concept that non-invasive imaging of the total mouse vasculature can be achieved with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG)-labeled human erythrocytes and positron emission tomography\/computerized tomography (PET\/CT). In this work, we demonstrate that changes in the total vascular volume of the brain and left ventricular myocardium of normal rats can be seen after pharmacological vasodilation using 18F-FDG-labeled rat red blood cells (FDG RBCs) and microPET\/CT imaging. FDG RBC PET imaging was also used to approximate the location of myocardial injury in a surgical myocardial infarction rat model. Finally, we show that FDG RBC PET imaging can detect relative differences in the degree of drug-induced intra-myocardial vasodilation between diabetic rats and normal controls. This FDG-labeled RBC PET imaging technique may thus be useful for assessing microvascular disease pathologies and characterizing pharmacological responses in the vascular bed of interest.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ph15030292","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,27]],"date-time":"2022-02-27T20:48:33Z","timestamp":1645994913000},"page":"292","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["In Vivo Imaging of Rat Vascularity with FDG-Labeled Erythrocytes"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Shaowei","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mikalai","family":"Budzevich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Small Animal Imaging Laboratory, Department of Cancer Physiology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mahmoud A.","family":"Abdalah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Interventional Radiology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yoganand","family":"Balagurunathan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Machine Learning, Department of Cancer Imaging and Metabolism, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8206-4259","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jung W.","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Interventional Radiology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2625","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jacc.2018.09.042","article-title":"Coronary Microvascular Disease Pathogenic Mechanisms and Therapeutic Options JACC State-of-the-Art Review","volume":"72","author":"Taqueti","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Am. Coll. Cardiol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e011104","DOI":"10.1161\/JAHA.118.011104","article-title":"Small-Vessel Disease in the Heart and Brain: Current Knowledge, Unmet Therapeutic Need, and Future Directions","volume":"8","author":"Berry","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Am. 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