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Comparison of Optical Bioluminescence Reporter Gene and Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide MR Contrast Agent as Cell Markers for Noninvasive Imaging of Cardiac Cell Transplantation

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Abstract

Purpose

In this study, we compared firefly luciferase (Fluc) reporter gene and superparamagnetic iron oxide (Feridex) as cell markers for longitudinal monitoring of cardiomyoblast graft survival using optical bioluminescence imaging (BLI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), respectively.

Procedures

Rats (n = 31) underwent an intramyocardial injection of cardiomyoblasts (2 × 106) labeled with Fluc, Feridex, or no marker (control) or an injection of Feridex alone (75 μg). Afterward, rats were serially imaged with BLI or MRI and killed at different time points for histological analysis.

Results

BLI revealed a drastically different cell survival kinetics (half-life = 2.65 days over 6 days) than that revealed by MRI (half-life = 16.8 days over 80 days). Injection of Feridex alone led to prolonged tissue retention of Feridex (≥16 days) and persistent MR signal (≥42 days).

Conclusions

Fluc BLI reporter gene imaging is a more accurate gauge of transplanted cell survival as compared to MRI of Feridex-labeled cells.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by NHLBI 5R01HL078632 (S.S.G.), NCI ICMIC P50 CA114747 (S.S.G.), NCI SAIRP (S.S.G.), American Heart Association Pre-doctoral Fellowship (I.Y.C.), Stanford Bio-X Graduate Student Fellowship (I.Y.C), Swiss Foundation of Medical-Biological Grants (JKW), Novartis Research Foundation (JKW), Swiss Society of Radiology (JKW), and AHA Beginning Grant in Aid (J.C.W.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Ian Y. Chen, Olivier Gheysens, Jürgen K. Willmann, Martin Rodriguez-Porcel, Ahmad Y. Sheikh, Anthony Z. Faranesh, Ramasamy Paulmurugan, Joseph C. Wu & Sanjiv S. Gambhir

  2. Bio-X Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Ian Y. Chen, Olivier Gheysens, Jürgen K. Willmann, Martin Rodriguez-Porcel, Ramasamy Paulmurugan & Sanjiv S. Gambhir

  3. Department of Cardiothoracic, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Ahmad Y. Sheikh

  4. Department of Comparative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Pauline Chu

  5. Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Ian Y. Chen, Olivier Gheysens, Jürgen K. Willmann, Martin Rodriguez-Porcel, Anthony Z. Faranesh, Ramasamy Paulmurugan, Joseph C. Wu & Sanjiv S. Gambhir

  6. Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Ian Y. Chen, Joan M. Greve, Olivier Gheysens, Jürgen K. Willmann, Martin Rodriguez-Porcel, Ramasamy Paulmurugan & Sanjiv S. Gambhir

  7. Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Phillip C. Yang & Joseph C. Wu

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  1. Ian Y. Chen
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  2. Joan M. Greve
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  12. Sanjiv S. Gambhir
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sanjiv S. Gambhir.

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Chen, I.Y., Greve, J.M., Gheysens, O. et al. Comparison of Optical Bioluminescence Reporter Gene and Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide MR Contrast Agent as Cell Markers for Noninvasive Imaging of Cardiac Cell Transplantation. Mol Imaging Biol 11, 178–187 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-008-0182-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-008-0182-z

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