Multimodal Imaging of Myocardial Infarction in Mice

Transgenic and knockout mice are widely used to define the roles of individual genes in cardiovascular disease. In particular, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound are valuable for assessing the response of the mouse heart to myocardial infarction (MI). The ability to assess the time evolution of changes in left ventricular (LV) volumes and function in mice enables investigators to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying both MI and heart failure. The pathophysiology of heart disease can further be probed using molecular imaging. Thus, examples of molecular and cellular imaging will be discussed relative to the long-term goal of fully integrating multimodal imaging of cardiovascular disease.