) between animals necessitate trials in humans. Development of more effective methods of imaging for detection and consequent treatment that can address the fundamental causes of cardiovascular diseases and can identify those at greatest risk offer potential improvements in the treatment and outcomes of these diseases. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: All authors have completed and submitted the Methodist DeBakey Cardiovascular Journal Conflict of Interest Statement and none were reported. Funding/Support: Dr. Eniola-Adefeso acknowledges funding support from

the American Heart Association (SDG 0735043N and Innovator 10IRG3490015) and the National Science Foundation (Brige EEC-0824182 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and Career CBET-1054352). Dr. Heslinga acknowledges funding support from the American Heart Association (10PRE2840008).
Introduction While the evolution Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of computed tomography

imaging in the last 2 decades has been driven almost exclusively by improvements in the instrumentation and processing algorithms, there have been comparatively modest advances in AT9283 contrast agent technology. A notable change in the last decade has been the development of blood pool contrast agents based on nanoparticle technology. While not yet ready for clinical use, the stable and uniform opacification provided by these agents Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in normal vasculature and controlled extravasation in compromised vasculature enables novel techniques for imaging and diagnosis of pathologies. This manuscript presents preclinical examples demonstrating Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical cardiovascular pathologies and tumor characterization by high-resolution computed tomography imaging. Introduction High-resolution computed tomography (CT) imaging has experienced a rapid evolution in the last Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical 10 years, driven primarily by the development of multi-row detector spiral scanning and cone-beam methods.1 Where the state-of-the-art about a decade ago was a 4-row detector,

contemporary machines today boast 128 detector rows or more with rotation speeds on the order of 0.25 seconds as well as dual energy technologies, allowing for multi-element decomposition.2–4 Flat-panel digital detector systems have become the standard in angiography, over and rotation of the source-detector pair for computed-tomographic reconstructions in C-arm systems has entered the clinical arena.5 With this rapid evolution in technology, methods enabling soft tissue and blood pool contrast have remained practically unchanged. The development of nonionic contrast agents in the 1970s remains the most significant advancement in contrast agents for CT imaging.6 7 Nonionic iodinated molecules exemplified by iohexol and iodixanol have become the mainstay of CT contrast agents in spite of their well-recognized limitations.