Three-dimensional reconstruction of thrombus formation during photochemically induced arterial and venous thrombosis

We have selected a model of photochemically induced thrombosis in hamsters and mice in which thrombus formation is visualized via transillumination and quantified via image analysis. Applying a gray-compensation method, the images of developing thrombi were presently transformed and a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of thrombus evolution performed off line. To this end, a nondimensional Gray-compensated parameter Gc was calculated. The integrated Gc (IGc) correlated linearly (r = 0.973) with the amount of light transilluminated and previously quantified as arbitrary light units. Matching Gc for reconstructed occlusive arterial and venous thrombi with the inner diameters of the hamster carotid artery and femoral vein, enabled the further conversion of IGc to real thrombus volumes, up to 0.14 mm in the carotid artery. In addition to enabling a graphical three-dimensional reconstruction of experimental thrombosis, via image subtraction, the kinetics of thrombus growth were visualized. Thus, platelet-mediated thrombus growth was found to occur randomly in small thrombi, but in larger thrombi, it occurred preferentially in its tailing vortex in areas of recirculating flow. The present study therefore confirms in vitro findings in an in vivo model. The 3D reconstruction and kinetics of thrombus growth may be helpful in the mechanistic and pharmacological study of experimental thrombosis.