0000000000072771
AUTHOR
Bjoern Jacobi
Correlation of skeletal muscle blood oxygenation level-dependent MRI and skin laser doppler flowmetry in patients with systemic sclerosis
Purpose To investigate the origin of skeletal muscle BOLD MRI alterations in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) by correlating BOLD MRI T2* signal of calf muscles with microcirculatory blood flow of calf skin measured by laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF). Materials and Methods BOLD MRI (3T) and LDF measurements were performed in 12 consecutive SSc patients (6 women, 6 men; mean age 54.0 ± 10.0 years) and 12 healthy volunteers (4 men, 8 women; mean age 44.7 ± 13.1 years). For both modalities, the same cuff compression paradigm at mid-thigh level was used. LDF datasets were acquired using a PeriScan PIM II Imager (Perimed AB, Stockholm, Sweden) at the upper calf corresponding to the level of …
Assessment of Skeletal Muscle Microperfusion Using MRI
Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) MRI, arterial spin labeling (ASL) and dynamic contrast enhancement (DCE) are current magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques allowing the non-invasive functional assessment of peripheral microvasculature in healthy and diseased individuals. The functional imaging of skeletal muscle microvasculature helps to understand muscular and vascular physiology and alterations of microcirculation under certain pathological conditions such as peripheral arterial occlusive disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic compartment syndrome and rheumatic disorders. BOLD MRI uses blood as an endogenous contrast agent provided by the different magnetic properties of oxy- a…
Interfering with Arginine Metabolism As a New Treatment Strategy for Multiple Myeloma
Abstract Introduction Starvation of tumor cells from the amino acid arginine has recently gained particular interest because of the downregulation of the rate-limiting enzyme argininosuccinate synthethase 1 (ASS1) in various cancer entities. ASS1-deficient cells cannot resynthesize arginine from citrulline and are therefore considered arginine auxotrophic. The arginine depleting enzyme arginine deiminase (ADI-PEG20, Polaris Pharmaceuticals) is currently tested in phase I-III clinical trials for different arginine auxotrophic cancers. The natural arginine analogue canavanine can compete with arginine for arginyl-tRNA-binding sites and consequently be incorporated into nascent proteins instea…