Characterization of the pharmaceutical effect of drugs on atherosclerotic lesions in vivo using integrated fluorescence imaging and raman spectral measurements
Journal
Analytical Chemistry
Journal Volume
86
Journal Issue
8
Pages
3863-3868
Date Issued
2014
Author(s)
Abstract
Direct assessment of the vascular lesions of model animals in vivo is important for the development of new antiatherosclerotic drugs. Nevertheless, biochemical analysis of the lipid profile in blood in vitro remains the most common way to evaluate the therapeutic effect of drugs targeting atherosclerosis because of an inherent difficulty to access the vascular wall. Using hypercholesterolemic zebrafish, we present an orchestrated application of Raman spectral measurements and confocal fluorescence imaging to interrogate the pharmacological response of atherosclerotic lesions in situ and in vivo. For demonstration, we investigated two commonly prescribed antihyperlipidemic drugs, ezetimibe and atorvastatin. The treatment of ezetimibe or atorvastatin alone decreased effectively the deposition of lipids in the vascular wall, and a combined dose showed a synergistic effect. Atorvastatin exerted a profound antioxidative effect on vascular fatty lesions. Analysis of individual lesions shows further that these lesions exhibited a heterogeneous response to the treatment of atorvastatin; a significant fraction of, but not all, the lesions became nonoxidized after the intervention. Beyond its efficacies in suppressing both the accumulation and oxidation of vascular lipids, atorvastatin expedited the clearance of vascular lipids. The possession of pleotropic (multiple) therapeutic effects on vascular fatty lesions of hypercholesterolemic zebrafish by atorvastatin is notably consistent with the known pharmaceutical effects of this drug on human beings. These results improve our understanding of the antiatherosclerotic effect of drugs. We envisage that our approach has the potential to become a platform to predict the pharmaceutical effects of new drugs aiming to cure human atherosclerotic diseases. ? 2014 American Chemical Society.
SDGs
Other Subjects
Fluorescence; Lipids; Antioxidative effects; Atherosclerotic lesions; Biochemical analysis; Confocal fluorescence imaging; Fluorescence imaging; Pharmacological response; Raman spectral measurements; Therapeutic effects; Diseases; atorvastatin; azetidine derivative; ezetimibe; heptanoic acid derivative; hypocholesterolemic agent; lipid; pyrrole derivative; animal; atherosclerosis; blood; blood vessel; confocal microscopy; drug effects; hypercholesterolemia; lipid metabolism; metabolism; pathology; Raman spectrometry; zebra fish; Animals; Anticholesteremic Agents; Atherosclerosis; Azetidines; Blood Vessels; Heptanoic Acids; Hypercholesterolemia; Lipid Metabolism; Lipids; Microscopy, Confocal; Pyrroles; Spectrum Analysis, Raman; Zebrafish
Type
journal article