The heart undergoes complex remodeling processes post myocardial infarction (MI), which are yet to be fully understood. Advanced preclinical in vivo imaging tools are key to a better understanding of the processes underlying ischemic damage and cardiac remodeling. Herein, volumetric optoacoustic tomography (VOT) was used to study remodeling patterns at different stages post MI by measuring the pulmonary transit time, ICG perfusion and cardiac cycle irregularities. The real-time, non-invasive, volumetric capabilities of VOT detected differences in remodeling patterns across different MI models, highlighting the feasibility of VOT as a preclinical cardiac imaging tool to study complex murine heart dynamics.
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