Three-dimensional gated EPR imaging of the beating heart: Time-resolved measurements of free radical distribution during the cardiac contractile cycle

In vivo or ex vivo EPR imaging, EPRI, has been established as a powerful technique for determining the spatial distribution of free radicals and other paramagnetic species in living organs and tissues. While instrumentation capable of performing EPR imaging of free radicals in whole tissues and isolated organs has been previously reported, it was not possible to image rapidly moving organs such as the beating heart. Therefore instrumentation was developed to enable the performance of gated-spectroscopy and imaging on isolated beating rat hearts at L-band. A synchronized pulsing and timing system capable of gated acquisitions of up to 256 images per cycle, with rates of up to 16 Hz was developed. The temporal and spatial accuracy of this instrumentation was verified using a specially designed beating heart-shaped isovolumic phantom with electromechanically driven sinusoidal motion at a cycle rate of 5 Hz. Gated EPR imaging was performed on a series of isolated rat hearts perfused with nitroxide spin labels. These hearts were paced at a rate of 6 Hz with either 16 or 32 gated images acquired per cardiac contractile cycle. The images enabled visualization of the time-dependent alterations in the free radical distribution and anatomical structure of the heart that occur during the cardiac cycle.