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June 14, 2026Molecular Imaging and BiologyOpen Access

Probing Early Myocardial Remodeling in Response to a High-Fat Diet in Mice by Evaluation of Extracellular Volume Fraction Using 4D Retrospectively Gated Micro-CT Imaging

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Key result

High-fat diet increases LV ECV in mice before altering mass or LVEF.

  • P<0.05
  • n=36

Why the study?

To evaluate whether retrospectively gated 4D micro-computed tomography can quantify extracellular volume fraction as an early marker of myocardial fibrosis and remodeling in a high-fat diet mouse model, and determine its relationship with cardiac functional parameters.

Population

Male C57BL/6J mice

Comparison

High-fat diet vs control diet

Design

Preclinical animal imaging study

Follow-up

8 or 16 weeks

Authors

GKGrzegorz KwiatkowskiJagiellonian UniversityAGAnna GąsiorekJagiellonian UniversityICIzabela CiastońJagiellonian University

Discussion

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Implication

ECV may mark early remodeling in obese mice; leaves open human validation before clinical use.

Key Points

  • This study aims to determine the potential of 4D micro-CT imaging in quantifying extracellular volume fraction as an early indicator of myocardial remodeling in response to a high-fat diet.
  • Male C57BL/6J mice were assigned to control or high-fat diet groups, with HFD mice imaged after 8 or 16 weeks.
  • 4D micro-CT imaging was performed for cardiac function analysis and ECV quantification, corrected for hematocrit.
  • Functional measures included left ventricular volumes, ejection fraction, and mitral annular plane systolic excursion.
  • Global left ventricular extracellular volume fraction significantly increased at 8 weeks of high-fat diet compared to controls.
  • Early ECV elevation correlated with impaired lateral mitral annular plane systolic excursion despite preserved global systolic function.
  • At 16 weeks, increased left ventricular mass and reduced circumferential shortening indicated further remodeling.

Structured PICO

P
Population
36 male C57BL/6J mice were assigned to a high-fat or control diet for 8 or 16 weeks to evaluate early myocardial remodeling and extracellular volume fraction using 4D micro-CT.
I
Intervention
High-fat diet (60% kcal from fat + 1% cholesterol) for 8 or 16 weeks
C
Comparator
Control diet (AIN93G) for age-matched time point
O
Outcome
Extracellular volume fraction (ECV) quantified by retrospectively gated 4D micro-computed tomography (µCT)surrogate

Main Result

p-value: p=<0.05

Retrospectively gated 4D micro-CT can noninvasively detect early diffuse myocardial fibrosis via increased extracellular volume fraction in a mouse model of high-fat diet-induced remodeling, before overt functional decline occurs.

Limitations

  • Necessity to use contrast agent for ECV measurements
  • Potential for increased radiation dose from repeated pre- and post-contrast imaging
  • Small size of the left atrium limits functional assessment
  • Long acquisition time due to scanner dead time between projections
  • Long overall acquisition time (approx 7 min) due to gantry rotation dead time, which is not compatible with continuous rotation acquisition when using retrospective gating
  • Left atrial function assessed from a single long-axis slice due to the small size of the left atrium

Cite This Study

Kwiatkowski et al. (2026) studied Myocardial remodeling (n=36). High-fat diet vs. Control diet was evaluated on Global left ventricular extracellular volume fraction (ECV) (p=<0.05). A high-fat diet for 8 weeks significantly increased global left ventricular extracellular volume fraction in mice compared to a control diet, preceding changes in left ventricular mass and ejection fraction.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a2e47f9b1cc60ccdea8c551https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-026-02111-x
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Also Consider

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