Cardiac Micro–Computed Tomography Imaging of the Aging Coronary Vasculature

2012

Background— Alterations at the level of the coronary circulation with aging may play an important role in the evolution of age-associated changes in left ventricular (LV) fibrosis and function. However these age-associated changes in the coronary vasculature remain poorly defined primarily due to the lack of high resolution imaging technologies. The current study was designed to utilize cardiac micro–computed tomography (micro-CT) technology as a novel imaging strategy, to define the 3-dimensional coronary circulation in the young and aged heart and its relationship to LV fibrosis and function. Methods and Results— Young (2 months old; n=10) and aged (20 months old; n=10) Fischer rats unde…