Figure 3

SPECT/CT imaging of atherosclerotic plaques in diabetic and non-diabetic ApoE^−/−mice. Representative coronal (left) and transverse (right) images obtained for diabetic ApoE^−/− mouse (A, B), non-diabetic ApoE^−/− mouse (C, D) injected with functionally active scV/Tc, for non-diabetic ApoE^−/− injected with functionally inactivated in-scV/Tc (E, F) for assessment of nonspecific, not VEGFR-mediated tracer uptake, and C57BL/6 mouse (G, H) injected with scV/Tc for assessment of tracer uptake in non-atherosclerotic, non-diabetic mouse (disease control). The CT contrast outlines the ventricular cavities and arterial vessels. Focal areas of scV/Tc uptake (in red) are found in the aortic arch and proximal brachiocephalic branches in diabetic mice, but are localized mostly to the aortic root in the non-diabetic mouse, and yellow arrows indicate the prominent areas of tracer uptake. No appreciable uptake of tracer localized to vascular territories was seen in the ApoE^−/− mice injected with in-scV/Tc or the C57BL/6 mice injected with scV/Tc.