Advances in vascular biology: imaging of abdominal organs and skin development

Abstract

The human body consists of 100,000km blood vessels. Among them, the smallest blood vessels, known as capillaries, account for about 80% of this length. If all capillaries were connected in a straight line, they would circle the world twice! This reflects the significance of the microvasculature in both health and disease. The microvasculature forms a consistently adaptive and selective barrier between blood and interstitial fluid to supply the tissue with oxygen and nutrients in exchange for carbon dioxide and waste products. Any dysfunction of the microvasculature can lead to disease onset and progression, particularly affecting highly vascular organs, such as kidney and liver. Therefore, visualizing and evaluating blood vessel architecture and function of abdominal organs are crucial for early diagnosis and follow-up therapy. This dissertation advances the field of vascular biology by contributing to the development of novel ultrasound imaging modalities for visualizing and quantifying the vasculature of abdominal organs with a higher sensitivity. Moreover, it offers a robust and reproducible approach to image and quantify functional vascular parameters of abdominal organs. It emphasizes the importance of the vasculature as an early marker of disease onset and progression. Overall, our research aims to bring kidney imaging closer to clinical translation.