Iron administration before stem cell harvest enables MR imaging tracking after transplantation.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

To determine whether intravenous ferumoxytol can be used to effectively label mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in vivo and can be used for tracking of stem cell transplants.

Materials and methods

This study was approved by the institutional animal care and use committee. Sprague-Dawley rats (6-8 weeks old) were injected with ferumoxytol 48 hours prior to extraction of MSCs from bone marrow. Ferumoxytol uptake by these MSCs was evaluated with fluorescence, confocal, and electron microscopy and compared with results of traditional ex vivo-labeling procedures. The in vivo-labeled cells were subsequently transplanted in osteochondral defects of 14 knees of seven athymic rats and were evaluated with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging up to 4 weeks after transplantation. T2 rela

SUBMITTER: Khurana A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3781357 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature