Hongqing Feng

Publications (3)8.94 Total impact

• Article: Clinical 3.0 T Magnetic Resonance Scanner to Be Used for Imaging of Mouse Atherosclerotic Lesions

  Xubin Li, Huidong Gu, Hongqing Feng, Xiangke Du, Bensheng Qiu, Xiaoming Yang
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  ABSTRACT: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a useful tool for non-invasive identification and characterization of atherosclerotic plaques in both basic science and clinical practice. To date, the reported studies on in vivo vascular MRI of small animals, such as mice and rats, are mainly performed on high-field micro-MR scanners, which are not always available in many academic institutions and basic research units. This study aimed to explore the possibility of generating high-resolution MR images of the atherosclerotic aortic walls/plaques of mice using a clinical 3.0T MR scanner with a dedicated solenoid mouse coil. An atherosclerotic mouse model was first generated by feeding 8 ApoE−/− mice an atherogenic diet. MR images of the ascending aortas of these mice were then achieved using a three-dimensional black-blood turbo spin-echo sequence (repetition time TR = 4 heart echo time TE=10ms). The MRI displayed a clear view of the aortic lumens and the atherosclerotic lesions, which correlated significantly well with subsequent histological confirmations (linear regression analysis, r=0.73, P=0.04). This study demonstrated that a clinical 3.0T MR scanner can be used for high-resolution imaging of mouse atherosclerotic lesions to some extent.
  Applied Magnetic Resonance 04/2012; 39(4):401-407. · 0.75 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Yanfeng Meng

  Article: MRI of auto-transplantation of bone marrow-derived stem-progenitor cells for potential repair of injured arteries.

  Yanfeng Meng, Feng Zhang, Tiffany Blair, Huidong Gu, Hongqing Feng, Jinnan Wang, Chun Yuan, Zhaoqi Zhang, Bensheng Qiu, Xiaoming Yang
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  ABSTRACT: This study was to validate the feasibility of using clinical 3.0T MRI to monitor the migration of autotransplanted bone marrow (BM)-derived stem-progenitor cells (SPC) to the injured arteries of near-human sized swine for potential cell-based arterial repair. The study was divided into two phases. For in vitro evaluation, BM cells were extracted from the iliac crests of 13 domestic pigs and then labeled with a T2 contrast agent, Feridex, and/or a fluorescent tissue marker, PKH26. The viability, the proliferation efficiency and the efficacies of Feridex and/or PKH26 labeling were determined. For in vivo validation, the 13 pigs underwent endovascular balloon-mediated intimal damages of the iliofemoral arteries. The labeled or un-labeled BM cells were autotransplanted back to the same pig from which the BM cells were extracted. Approximately three weeks post-cell transplantation, 3.0T T2-weighted MRI was performed to detect Feridex-created signal voids of the transplanted BM cells in the injured iliofemoral arteries, which was confirmed by subsequent histologic correlation. Of the in vitro study, the viability of dual-labeled BM cells was 95-98%. The proliferation efficiencies of dual-labeled BM cells were not significantly different compared to those of non-labeled cells. The efficacies of Feridex- and PKH26 labeling were 90% and 100%, respectively. Of the in vivo study, 3.0T MRI detected the auto-transplanted BM cells migrated to the injured arteries, which was confirmed by histologic examinations. This study demonstrates the capability of using clinical 3.0T MRI to monitor the auto-transplantation of BM cells that migrate to the injured arteries of large animals, which may provide a useful MRI technique to monitor cell-based arterial repair.
  PLoS ONE 01/2012; 7(2):e31137. · 4.09 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Yanfeng Meng

  Article: Magnetic resonance imaging of bone marrow cell-mediated interleukin-10 gene therapy of atherosclerosis.

  Jihong Sun, Xubin Li, Hongqing Feng, Huidong Gu, Tiffany Blair, Jiakai Li, Stephanie Soriano, Yanfeng Meng, Feng Zhang, Qinghua Feng, Xiaoming Yang
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  ABSTRACT: A characteristic feature of atherosclerosis is its diffuse involvement of arteries across the entire human body. Bone marrow cells (BMC) can be simultaneously transferred with therapeutic genes and magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agents prior to their transplantation. Via systemic transplantation, these dual-transferred BMCs can circulate through the entire body and thus function as vehicles to carry genes/contrast agents to multiple atherosclerosis. This study was to evaluate the feasibility of using in vivo MR imaging (MRI) to monitor BMC-mediated interleukin-10 (IL-10) gene therapy of atherosclerosis. For in vitro confirmation, donor mouse BMCs were transduced by IL-10/lentivirus, and then labeled with a T2-MR contrast agent (Feridex). For in vivo validation, atherosclerotic apoE(-/-) mice were intravenously transplanted with IL-10/Feridex-BMCs (Group I, n = 5) and Feridex-BMCs (Group II, n = 5), compared to controls without BMC transplantation (Group III, n = 5). The cell migration to aortic atherosclerotic lesions was monitored in vivo using 3.0T MRI with subsequent histology correlation. To evaluate the therapeutic effect of BMC-mediated IL-10 gene therapy, we statistically compared the normalized wall indexes (NWI) of ascending aortas amongst different mouse groups with various treatments. Of in vitro experiments, simultaneous IL-10 transduction and Feridex labeling of BMCs were successfully achieved, with high cell viability and cell labeling efficiency, as well as IL-10 expression efficiency (≥90%). Of in vivo experiments, MRI of animal groups I and II showed signal voids within the aortic walls due to Feridex-created artifacts from the migrated BMCs in the atherosclerotic plaques, which were confirmed by histology. Histological quantification showed that the mean NWI of group I was significantly lower than those of group II and group III (P<0.05). This study has confirmed the possibility of using MRI to track, in vivo, IL-10/Feridex-BMCs recruited to atherosclerotic lesions, where IL-10 genes function to prevent the progression of atherosclerosis.
  PLoS ONE 01/2011; 6(9):e24529. · 4.09 Impact Factor