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In vivo magnetic resonance imaging of injected mesenchymal stem cells in rat myocardial infarction; simultaneous cell tracking and left ventricular function measurement

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Abstract

To determine whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can enable magnetically labeled mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) tracking and simultaneous in vivo functional data acquisition in rat models of myocardial infarction. Superparamagnetic iron oxide-laden human MSCs were injected into rat myocardium infarcted by cryoinjury 3 weeks after myocardial infarction. The control group received cell-free media injection. Before injection and for 3 months after, in vivo serial MRI was performed. Electrocardiography-gated gradient echo sequence MRI and cine MRI were performed for in vivo cell tracking and assessing cardiac function using left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), respectively. MRI revealed a persistent signal-void representing iron-laden MSCs until ten post-injection weeks. Serial follow-up MRI revealed that LVEF was significantly higher in the MSC injection group than in the control group. We conclude that MRI enables in vivo tracking of injected cells and evaluation of the long-term therapeutic potential of MSCs for myocardial infarction.

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Abbreviations

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

MSC:

Mesenchymal stem cell

LV:

Left ventricle

EF:

Ejection fraction

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Acknowlegments

This study was supported by a faculty research grant of Yonsei University College of Medicine (6-2008-0223).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology and Research Institute of Radiological Science, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, 120-752, Seoul, South Korea

    Young Jin Kim, Yong-Min Huh, Kyu Ok Choe, Byoung Wook Choi & Jin-Suck Suh

  2. Department of Radiology, Korea University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

    Eun Jeong Choi

  3. Division of cardiology, Yonsei Cardiovascular Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Yangsoo Jang

  4. Department of Microbiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Jae Myun Lee

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  1. Young Jin Kim
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Correspondence to Jin-Suck Suh.

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Kim, Y.J., Huh, YM., Choe, K.O. et al. In vivo magnetic resonance imaging of injected mesenchymal stem cells in rat myocardial infarction; simultaneous cell tracking and left ventricular function measurement. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 25 (Suppl 1), 99–109 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-008-9407-0

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