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Published October 2002 | public
Journal Article

Tracking Transplanted Stem Cell Migration Using Bifunctional, Contrast Agent-Enhanced, Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

The ability to track stem cell transplants in the brain by in vivo neuroimaging will undoubtedly aid our understanding of how these cells mediate functional recovery after neural transplantation. One major challenge for the development and refinement of stem cell transplantation is to map the spatial distribution and rate of migration in situ. Here we report a method for tracking transplanted stem cells in the ischemia-damaged rat hippocampus by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Before transplantation, stem cells were labeled in vitro either with a novel bifunctional contrast agent, gadolinium rhodamine dextran (GRID), identifiable by both MRI and fluorescence microscopy, or with PKH26, visible exclusively under fluorescence microscopy. At different time points following engraftment, the brains were evaluated by both histology and ex vivo MR imaging. Transplanted stem cells were identified by MRI only if prelabeled with GRID, whereas fluorescence microscopy detected transplanted cells using either label. The distribution of GRID-labeled stem cells identified by MRI corresponded to those detected using fluorescence microscopy. These results demonstrate that GRID-enhanced MRI can reliably identify transplanted stem cells and their migration in the brain.

Additional Information

© 2002 Elsevier Science. Received January 17, 2002. Available online 5 October 2002. The authors thank Dr. Paul Kinchesch (Queen Mary and Westfield College) for his assistance with the NMR system and Peter Sowinski (ReNeuron Ltd.) for his help with execution of the global ischemia model. M.M. is supported by predoctoral scholarships from NATO, the Minstère de l'Education Nationale (MEN) du Luxembourg and ReNeuron Ltd., and is currently supported by MRC Grant G0000966. D.C. is supported by MRC Grant G78/6070. The imaging spectrometer was provided by the University of London Intercollegiate Research Service scheme and is located at QMW. The authors also thank Professor Jeffrey Gray (IoP) for his continued encouragement in the development of novel imaging techniques to assess the viability of neural transplants.

Additional details

Created:
August 21, 2023
Modified:
October 17, 2023