Arterial fluorescent components involved in atherosclerotic plaque instability: differentiation by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy

Abstract

As part of our ongoing research on spectroscopic differentiation between unstable and stable atherosclerotic lesions, we report data on time-resolved fluorescence of components of arterial intima matrix (different types of cholesterols, lipoproteins, and collagens). Certain compositional features of atherosclerotic plaque have been associated with plaque instability and rupture. We have characterized and compared the time-resolved spectra of structural proteins (Types I and III collagens, and elastin), lipoproteins (LDL, VLDL), and cholesterols (free cholesterol, and cholesteryl oleate and linoleate) induced with nitrogen laser excitation pulses (337 nm, 3 ns) and detected (360-510 nm range, 5 nm interval) with an MCP-PMT connected to a fast digitizer (2 Gsamples/s). Spectral intensities and time-dependent parameters (lifetime (tau) <SUB>f</SUB>; decay constants (tau) <SUB>1</SUB> (fast-term), (tau) <SUB>2</SUB> (slow-term), A<SUB>1</SUB> (fast-term amplitude contribution)) derived from the time-resolved spectra were used for samples characterization and comparison. We observed that time- resolved data distinguish collagens from cholesterols and from lipoproteins, and additionally, distinguish different types of cholesterols, different types of lipoproteins and different types of collagen from each other. For instance, the collagen lifetime (390 nm: Type I 5.2 ns, Type III 2.95 ns) was significantly longer than that of cholesterols (free 1.5 ns, linoleate 0.9 ns, oleate 1.0 ns) and that of lipoproteins (LDL 0.95 ns, VLDL 0.85 ns).