WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Using an experimental  scanner and nanoparticles of gold, U.S. researchers said they  have found a way to identify the most dangerous types of  blocked arteries.

The gold nanoparticles home in on blockages loaded with  immune cells, which other studies have shown are the most  likely to break off and cause a heart attack, said the  researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York  said.

The scanner made by Philips, using a method called  multicolor computed tomography, or CT, showed the gold  particles heading to the dangerous artery-clogging plaque, the  team reported in the September issue of the journal Radiology.

“The use of multicolor CT and gold nanoparticles to  visualize plaque will revolutionize cardiac imaging,” radiology  professor Zahi Fayad said in a statement.

The team hopes to test the method on people and will make  the gold nanoparticle technology available for licensing, a  university spokeswoman said.

Fayad’s team found a way to make the tiny particles of gold  attach to HDL, the high density lipoprotein or “good”  cholesterol that carries away harmful cholesterol.

Scans on mice with blocked arteries showed these HDL-linked  gold nanoparticles ended up in deposits of plaque that were  also full of immune cells called macrophages.

“These mice had been on the Western high-fat,  high-cholesterol diet for an average of 10 months,” the  researchers wrote.

Both HDL and macrophages help clear the blood of globs of  harmful cholesterol, called LDL or low density lipoprotein.  Macrophages try to consume these globs and often end up stuck  in the artery walls when they are too fat to get all the way  through with their load.

These deposits of overfed macrophages harden and are the  main cause of artery clogging plaque. When they are unstable,  they can break off and block arteries farther down the line,  causing a heart attack or stroke.