Researchers identify landmarks of peripheral artery disease recovery

Utilizing a multimodal imaging strategy, researchers have identified the landmarks of recovery in peripheral artery disease mice models, which could aid future treatment development.

Peripheral artery disease, the progressive narrowing of arteries in the limbs, is a major worldwide health concern, affecting an estimated 27 million individuals in Europe and North America alone. Since the disease is often left undiagnosed until advanced stages, there is a very high risk of patients developing debilitating complications, potentially resulting in limb amputation.

Despite decades of intense research published on the disease, very few therapies have made it past the clinical trial stage and there is still no standard treatment for the disease. In an attempt to overcome this, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (IL, USA) have identified major landmarks of peripheral artery disease recovery in mice models.

In the study, described recently in Theranostics, the team surgically narrowed the arteries in the hindlimbs of mice to mimic the symptoms of peripheral artery disease and monitored the changes in muscle tissue, blood vessels and gene expression in these mice during the four stages of recovery. Multiple imaging methods were utilized, including ultrasound, laser speckle contrast, photoacoustic and serial scintigraphic imaging.

The multimodal imaging strategy resulted in the production of the first holistic image of peripheral artery disease recovery, which allowed researchers to identify several key physiological and molecular events throughout the recovery process. The researchers believe that these ‘landmarks’ of recovery could help to standardize a framework for future treatment development.

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“Each imaging method gives us a different aspect of the recovery of peripheral artery disease that the other tools will not. So instead of looking at only one thing, now we’re looking at a whole spectrum of the recovery,” explained first author Jamila Hedhli. “By looking at these landmarks, we’re allowing scientists to use them as a tool to say, ‘At this point, I should see this happening, and if we add this kind of therapy, there should be an enhancement in recovery.’”

Although mice are not a perfect model for human peripheral artery disease, each of the imaging platforms used by the researchers can be easily translated to human patients, diagnosed with peripheral artery disease or other diseases. The researchers plan to build on the findings of this study by mapping the identified ‘landmarks’ in larger animals and eventually into humans.

“We are very interested in improving diagnosis and treatment,” Hedhli continued. “Many people are working to develop early diagnosis and treatment options for patients. Having standard landmarks for researchers to refer to can facilitate all of these findings, move them forward to clinic and, we hope, result in successful clinical trials.”