Assessment of muscle pathology is a key outcome measure to measure the success of clinical trials studying muscular dystrophies; however, few robust minimally invasive measures exist. Indocyanine green (ICG)-enhanced near-infrared (NIR) optical imaging offers an objective, minimally invasive, and longitudinal modality that can quantify pathology within muscle by imaging uptake of ICG into the damaged muscles. Dystrophic mice lacking dystrophin (mdx) or gamma-sarcoglycan (Sgcg-/-) were compared to control mice by NIR optical imaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We determined that optical imaging could be used to differentiate control and dystrophic mice, visualize eccentric muscle induced by downhill treadmill running, and restore the membrane integrity in Sgcg-/- mice following adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivery of recombinant human SGCG (desAAV8hSGCG). We conclude that NIR optical imaging is comparable to MRI and can be used to detect muscle damage in dystrophic muscle as compared to unaffected controls, monitor worsening of muscle pathology in muscular dystrophy, and assess regression of pathology following therapeutic intervention in muscular dystrophies.

中文翻译：

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增强对比度的近红外光学成像可检测出小鼠肌营养不良症的病情恶化。

肌肉病理学评估是衡量研究肌肉营养不良的临床试验成功与否的关键结果。然而，很少有健壮的微创措施。吲哚菁绿（ICG）增强的近红外（NIR）光学成像提供了客观，微创和纵向的方式，可通过对ICG对受损肌肉的摄取进行成像来量化肌肉内的病理状况。通过NIR光学成像和磁共振成像（MRI）将缺乏肌营养不良蛋白（mdx）或γ-糖皮质激素（Sgcg-/-）的营养不良小鼠与对照小鼠进行了比较。我们确定光学成像可用于区分对照和营养不良的小鼠，可视化下坡跑步机诱发的偏心肌肉，并在重组人SGCG（desAAV8hSGCG）的腺相关病毒（AAV）递送后恢复Sgcg-/-小鼠的膜完整性。我们得出的结论是，与未受影响的对照组相比，NIR光学成像可与MRI媲美，可用于检测营养不良性肌肉的肌肉损伤，监测肌营养不良症中肌肉病理的恶化情况，并评估肌肉营养不良的治疗干预后病理的消退。