New applications of nanoparticles in cardiovascular imaging

Nanotechnology involves working at the atomic, molecular, and macromolecular levels including imaging. Recently, four areas have emerged in cardiovascular imaging: 1. Targeted therapeutics to deliver cardioprotective drugs at the target sites they are needed; 2. Myocardial tissue engineering to replace the defective valves, damaged heart muscle, clogged blood vessels and myocardium; 3. Molecular imaging using "smart" imaging agents in targeted therapeutics and imaging; 4. Biosensors and myocardial diagnostics. Several approaches to nanoparticles i.e. dendrimers, liposomes, polymer delivery molecules, cantilevers, nanoscaffolds, nanofibers are potential candidates in cardiac visualization. The extracellular matrix plays a significant role by chemokines, cytokines and growth factors. The limitations of these emerging techniques and a new possibility of MRI visualization of mouse cardiac atheroma by superparamagnetic iron-oxide gadolinium-apoferritin (SPIOA) and myoglobin (SPIOM), for targeted functional and molecular imaging of atherosclerosis are highlighted in this paper. These emerging techniques provide an opportunity for tracking functional and structural changes in myocardium and heart tissue.