Imaging Characteristics of DHOG, a Hepatobiliary Contrast Agent for Preclinical MicroCT in Mice

Henning, Tobias; Weber, Axel W.; Bauer, Jan S.; Meier, Reinhard; Carlsen, Janette M.; Sutton, Elizabeth J.; Prevrhal, Sven; Ziegler, Sibylle I.; Feussner, Hubertus; Daldrup-Link, Heike E.; Rummeny, Ernst J.

doi:10.1016/j.acra.2007.10.007

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Volume 15, Issue 3 , Pages 342-349, March 2008

Imaging Characteristics of DHOG, a Hepatobiliary Contrast Agent for Preclinical MicroCT in Mice

Tobias Henning
- University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry St., Suite # 350, San Francisco, CA, 94107
- T.D.H. was supported by a stipend from the German Research Association (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).
- Address correspondence to: T.H.
Axel W. Weber
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, München, Germany
Jan S. Bauer
- University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry St., Suite # 350, San Francisco, CA, 94107
Reinhard Meier
- University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry St., Suite # 350, San Francisco, CA, 94107
Janette M. Carlsen
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, München, Germany
Elizabeth J. Sutton
- University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry St., Suite # 350, San Francisco, CA, 94107
Sven Prevrhal
- University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry St., Suite # 350, San Francisco, CA, 94107
Sibylle I. Ziegler
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, München, Germany
Hubertus Feussner
- Department of Surgery, München, Germany.
Heike E. Daldrup-Link
- University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry St., Suite # 350, San Francisco, CA, 94107
Ernst J. Rummeny
- Department of Radiology, München, Germany

Received 1 October 2007; accepted 8 October 2007.

Rationale and Objectives

This study was performed to assess the imaging characteristics and pharmacokinetics of 1,3-Bis-[7-(3-amino-2,4,6-triiodophenyl)-heptanoyl]-2-oleoyl glycerol (DHOG, Fenestra LC), a hepatobiliary contrast agent for microCT.

Materials and Methods

We investigated the abdomen of 18 female C3H mice in a MicroCAT II microCT scanner before contrast agent injection and at multiple time points up to 48 hours after intravenous injection of DHOG (1 g I/kg body weight). The contrast agent effect was determined quantitatively and dynamically by measuring pre- and postcontrast Hounsfield units (HU) of the liver, aorta, spleen, and kidneys. Based on additional phantom measurements, the reproducibility of lesion detection was estimated for different lesion sizes.

Results

DHOG caused a marked early postcontrast enhancement of blood in the aorta and a very high enhancement of the spleen, both slowly declined after 90 minutes. The liver parenchyma showed a slow contrast agent accumulation and clearly increased HU data between 3 and 7 hours after injection. No significant renal parenchymal enhancement or excretion was noticed. At early time points after administration, DHOG exhibits characteristics of a macromolecular contrast agent by demonstrating a blood pool effect. At later time points, DHOG provides a prolonged, marked liver enhancement on microCT images due to its specific liver uptake. For a lesion size of 1 mm diameter, the variability in between two scans was 27.7 HU (P < .05) and the variability for different planes of one scan was 19.8 HU (P < .05).

Conclusions

DHOG yields a very good visualization of the liver and delineation of the surrounding structures with a long plateau. It is a very suitable contrast agent for liver imaging in mice for microCT imaging. The presented protocol provides a high reproducibility for lesion detection with a relatively low radiation dose.

Key Words: MicroCT, imaging, contrast agents