The embryonic murine heart is a very important model of human heart development due to its four- chambered structure similar to the human heart, a short gestation period and a completely mapped genome which is easy to alter and manipulate. Lack of an appropriate imaging technology has previously hindered progress in uncovering the normal/abnormal mechanisms that govern early heart development in mice. The multi-disciplinary project described in this five-year proposal will develop, investigate and validate imaging and analysis tools to rapidly and thoroughly investigate the living embryonic murine heart at a level of spatial and temporal resolution previously not possible. These tools are based on the emerging technology of optical coherence tomography (OCT), which is capable of micrometer-scale resolution imaging of small biological tissue samples non-destructively and in real time. Compared to avian and zebrafish models, the murine embryo is far more challenging to culture in vitro in critical early looping stages and thus presents unique imaging challenges. We will develop methods and technology to culture mouse embryos that enable normal development and facilitate optical imaging. The significant potential of OCT for embryonic imaging is clear. We will develop the technology to fully realize this potential by improving imaging speed, resolution and scanning technology to enable complete characterization of the morphology and contractile and hemodynamic function of the early embryonic murine heart. Data interpretation is a key to the success of investigations using imaging. We will develop a suite of advanced tools for 2D/3D image preprocessing, analysis and visualization that will facilitate examination and comparison of the acquired image data. These tools, including noise reduction, registration, intensity inhomogeneity compensation, visualization using opacity optimization, semi-automatic and supervised 3D image segmentation, and tissue displacement and blood flow mapping, will facilitate new observations and discovery from these unique data. A set of baseline experiments will establish the usefulness of our OCT technology and image analysis tools during the stages of most dramatic cardiac morphogenesis. We will compare functional measurements obtained in vitro from OCT with those obtained in utero using micro ultrasound. We will investigate the effect of altered hemodynamics in NMHC-IIB transgenic ( and -/-) mice on heart looping. Finally, we will correlate gene expression with functional measurements made from OCT data. The end product of this effort will be a novel set of imaging tools based on OCT, partnered with improved embryo culturing technology, which have been optimized and validated for investigating the developing murine heart. The applicability of the developed technology will not only extend to other models of heart defects, but also to many other fields of developmental biology. The hypothesis tested in the validation aim will address critical open questions regarding the earliest functional changes leading to congenital heart defects.

Public Health Relevance

Early medical treatments of congenital heart defects can only be developed if we understand the origins of the defects while the heart is first developing. The lack of an ideal way to image the structure and function of these tiny, almost microscopic hearts has limited our ability answer these questions. OCT imaging of embryonic mouse heart can fill this need and we will develop and validate the technology and methods to reach this potential.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HL095717-03
Application #
8099497
Study Section
Biomedical Imaging Technology Study Section (BMIT)
Program Officer
Buxton, Denis B
Project Start
2009-08-05
Project End
2013-05-31
Budget Start
2011-06-01
Budget End
2012-05-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$720,137
Indirect Cost
Name
Case Western Reserve University
Department
Biomedical Engineering
Type
Schools of Engineering
DUNS #
077758407
City
Cleveland
State
OH
Country
United States
Zip Code
44106
Karunamuni, Ganga; Sheehan, Megan M; Doughman, Yong Qiu et al. (2017) Supplementation with the Methyl Donor Betaine Prevents Congenital Defects Induced by Prenatal Alcohol Exposure. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 41:1917-1927
Ford, Stephanie M; McPheeters, Matthew T; Wang, Yves T et al. (2017) Increased regurgitant flow causes endocardial cushion defects in an avian embryonic model of congenital heart disease. Congenit Heart Dis 12:322-331
Ma, Pei; Gu, Shi; Karunamuni, Ganga H et al. (2016) Cardiac neural crest ablation results in early endocardial cushion and hemodynamic flow abnormalities. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 311:H1150-H1159
Karunamuni, Ganga; Gu, Shi; Doughman, Yong Qiu et al. (2015) Using optical coherence tomography to rapidly phenotype and quantify congenital heart defects associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. Dev Dyn 244:607-18
Gu, Shi; Wang, Yves T; Ma, Pei et al. (2015) Mapping conduction velocity of early embryonic hearts with a robust fitting algorithm. Biomed Opt Express 6:2138-57
Zhao Wang; Jenkins, Michael W; Linderman, George C et al. (2015) 3-D Stent Detection in Intravascular OCT Using a Bayesian Network and Graph Search. IEEE Trans Med Imaging 34:1549-1561
Wang, Yves T; Gu, Shi; Ma, Pei et al. (2014) Optical stimulation enables paced electrophysiological studies in embryonic hearts. Biomed Opt Express 5:1000-13
Karunamuni, Ganga H; Gu, Shi; Ford, Matthew R et al. (2014) Capturing structure and function in an embryonic heart with biophotonic tools. Front Physiol 5:351
Fu, Xiaoyong; Wang, Zhao; Wang, Hui et al. (2014) Fiber-optic catheter-based polarization-sensitive OCT for radio-frequency ablation monitoring. Opt Lett 39:5066-9
Peterson, Lindsy M; Gu, Shi; Jenkins, Michael W et al. (2014) Orientation-independent rapid pulsatile flow measurement using dual-angle Doppler OCT. Biomed Opt Express 5:499-514

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