Multimodality imaging demonstrates trafficking of liposomes preferentially to ischemic myocardium

Nanoparticles may serve as a promising means to deliver novel therapeutics to the myocardium following myocardial infarction. We sought to determine whether lipid-based liposomal nanoparticles can be shown through different imaging modalities to specifically target injured myocardium following intravenous injection in an ischemia-reperfusion murine myocardial infarction model.

Mice underwent ischemia-reperfusion surgery and then either received tail-vein injection with gadolinium- and fluorescent-labeled liposomes or no injection (control). The hearts were harvested 24h later and underwent T1 and T2-weighted ex vivo imaging using a 7 Tesla Bruker magnet. The hearts were then sectioned for immunohistochemistry and optical fluorescent imaging.

The mean size of the liposomes was 100nm. T1-weighted signal intensity was significantly increased in the ischemic vs. the non-ischemic myocardium for mice that received liposomes compared with control. Optical imaging demonstrated significant fluorescence within the infarct area for the liposome group compared with control (163±31% vs. 13±14%, p=0.001) and fluorescent microscopy confirmed the presence of liposomes within the ischemic myocardium.

Liposomes traffic to the heart and preferentially home to regions of myocardial injury, enabling improved diagnosis of myocardial injury and could serve as a vehicle for drug delivery.