New agent to spy clogged arteries
By Janet Raloff
From Chicago, at the American Chemical Society Meeting
High-density lipoproteins (HDLs) are referred to as the good cholesterol because they can penetrate artery-clogging plaque and carry away some of the bad cholesterol. Now, researchers in New York City have designed a nanoparticle, modeled on HDL particles, to improve the detection of such arterial plaques.
Like HDLs, the new contrast agent enters fatty deposits on vessel walls. Under magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the new molecule shines brightly and highlights cholesterol buildups in partially blocked arteries.