Research Article

Erbium-Based Perfusion Contrast Agent for Small-Animal Microvessel Imaging

Figure 6

Heart, testes, and inferior vena cava (IVC) were chosen to represent the start, middle, and end of the perfusion route. The attenuation (HU) of the Er2O3-based contrast agent in all three regions was significantly higher than that of cortical bone (, repeated measures ANOVA). Importantly, the attenuation of the Er2O3-enhanced vasculature was significantly higher than that commercially available lead-based Microfil MV122 (one-way ANOVA, ), while there was no difference between Microfil MV122 and cortical bone ().