This proposal will provide the candidate with in-depth training in the concepts and methods relevant to the noninvasive imaging of vascular function in heart disease using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The proposed research will build on the candidate's previous focus on the use of MRI to characterize mechanical and perfusion abnormalities in heart disease. The long-term goal is to develop broad-based skills that are essential for elucidating the multifactorial pathophysiology underlying many heart conditions. The candidate will be guided by a team of basic scientists and clinicians who are currently conducting related cardiac research. Through closely working with this interdisciplinary team of senior investigators, the candidate is expected to develop a model for his own career. Specifically, the research aims to refine and implement a noninvasive MRI method, based on the sensitivity of MRI to blood oxygenation changes that accompany changes in hemodynamics and oxygen metabolism, to detect and qualify microvascular dysfunction in the heart. The method will be applied to the study of hypertension since it is a disease with major public health impact, affecting 10-20% of US adults, in which microvascular dysfunction is believed to contribute to symptoms and cardiac performance, and for which adequate noninvasive vascular function methods do not exist. The applicants will then relate a new MR measure of vascular dysfunction to establish indicators of cardiac disability. They have obtained preliminary data confirming the ability to detect these effects in rats and in human subjects. This research has the potential to characterize the functional manifestations of hypertension and has the potential to contribute to a more comprehensive explanation of symptoms, which will aid in tailoring therapeutic regimen related to the vascular aspects of this disease.
| Beache, G M; Herzka, D A; Boxerman, J L et al. (2001) Attenuated myocardial vasodilator response in patients with hypertensive hypertrophy revealed by oxygenation-dependent magnetic resonance imaging. Circulation 104:1214-7 |
