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Optical imaging of experimental arthritis using allogeneic leukocytes labeled with a near-infrared fluorescent probe

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of inflammation detection in an antigen-induced arthritis model using fluorescent leukocytes and optical imaging.

Methods

Antigen-mediated monoarthritis was induced in the right knee of 12 Sprague-Dawley rats. Six rats remained untreated and six rats were treated with cortisone. All rats received ex vivo fluorescent-labeled rat leukocytes. Optical images of both knees were acquired before and at 5 min, 1 h, 4 h, and 24 h after cell injection. Images were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively by calculating signal intensity ratios between the right arthritic (A) and contralateral normal (N) knee. A/N ratios were tested for significant differences between baseline values and values after cell injection using a paired t test as well as between the untreated and cortisone-treated group using an unpaired t test. Synovial specimens were processed and evaluated for labeled cells with fluorescence microscopy.

Results

At 4 h and 24 h p.i., the A/N ratios of untreated arthritic knees showed a significant signal increase compared with baseline values (p<0.05) and a significant difference compared with A/N ratios of cortisone-treated animals (p<0.05). Fluorescent microscopy confirmed the presence of labeled cells in the arthritic synovium.

Conclusion

Inflammation in antigen-induced arthritis can be detected with ex vivo labeled allogenic leukocytes and optical imaging.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Research and Education Foundation Grant from the Society of Pediatric Radiology and by a seed grant from the Department of Radiology, UCSF.

The authors would like to thank Peter Lange, MD, MRCP (UK) for his critical revision of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Department of Radiology, S-372, UCSF Medical Center, University of California in San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA

    Gerhard H. Simon, Heike E. Daldrup-Link, Juli Kau & Olaf Saborowski

  2. Department of Radiology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Gerhard H. Simon & Stephan Metz

  3. Department of Pathology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Juergen Schlegel & Guido Piontek

  4. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA

    Stavros Demos

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Haematology/Oncology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Justus Duyster

  6. Department of Radiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Bernd J. Pichler

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  1. Gerhard H. Simon
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  2. Heike E. Daldrup-Link
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  3. Juli Kau
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Correspondence to Gerhard H. Simon.

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Simon, G.H., Daldrup-Link, H.E., Kau, J. et al. Optical imaging of experimental arthritis using allogeneic leukocytes labeled with a near-infrared fluorescent probe. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 33, 998–1006 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-006-0081-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-006-0081-y

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