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Magnetic Resonance Tracking of Implanted Adult and Embryonic Stem Cells in Injured Brain and Spinal Cord
Author(s) -
SYKOVÁ EVA,
JENDELOVÁ PAVLA
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1334.014
Subject(s) - lesion , spinal cord , stem cell , pathology , embryonic stem cell , mesenchymal stem cell , transplantation , medicine , cd34 , neural stem cell , anatomy , chemistry , biology , surgery , microbiology and biotechnology , psychiatry , gene , biochemistry
A bstract : Stem cells are a promising tool for treating brain and spinal cord injury. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a noninvasive method to study the fate of transplanted cells in vivo . We studied implanted rat bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs) and mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) labeled with iron‐oxide nanoparticles (Endorem®) and human CD34 + cells labeled with magnetic MicroBeads (Miltenyi) in rats with a cortical or spinal cord lesion. Cells were grafted intracerebrally, contralaterally to a cortical photochemical lesion, or injected intravenously. During the first week post transplantation, transplanted cells migrated to the lesion. About 3% of MSCs and ESCs differentiated into neurons, while no MSCs, but 75% of ESCs differentiated into astrocytes. Labeled MSCs, ESCs, and CD34 + cells were visible in the lesion on MR images as a hypointensive signal, persisting for more than 50 days. In rats with a balloon‐induced spinal cord compression lesion, intravenously injected MSCs migrated to the lesion, leading to a hypointensive MRI signal. In plantar and Basso‐Beattie‐Bresnehan (BBB) tests, grafted animals scored better than lesioned animals injected with saline solution. Histologic studies confirmed a decrease in lesion size. We also used 3‐D polymer constructs seeded with MSCs to bridge a spinal cord lesion. Our studies demonstrate that grafted adult as well as embryonic stem cells labeled with iron‐oxide nanoparticles migrate into a lesion site in brain as well as in spinal cord.