Work package #9

Work package #9: Vascular imaging in cardiovascular diseases and myocardial regeneration (Cardiovascular diseases and vascular biology Group, Department of Cardiology)
WP leader: Prof. S. Felix

Many research groups in the EU are developing new tools for diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, especially for atherosclerosis. Much interest has been shown in the pathophysiology of inflammation after angioplasty and in the potential of heart repair stem cell migration after myocardial infarction. Use of two-photon microscopy to study the monocyte transmigration process after stenting of a vessel (e.g. rat aorta) would be of very high importance. A newly developed strategy to treat mice suffering from myocardial hypertrophy after infarction includes the application of adult stem cells which seem to be recruited only to the diseased organ. After homing these stem cells show the potential of differentiation to functional cardiomyocytes that are believed to be able to enhance cardiac functions. As these transplanted stem cells are isolated from transgenic mice expressing GFP it should be practicable to study migration and differentiation of homed stem cells in their target tissue with the help of fluorescence microscopy techniques. For both projects dynamic molecular and vascular imaging methods like two-photon microscopy are essential research tools.