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In vivo MRI mapping of iron oxide‐labeled stem cells transplanted in the heart
In this study we investigated the use of voxel‐based R2 mapping as a tool to monitor the fate of iron oxide‐labeled cells in the myocardium. Mesenchymal stem cells were transduced with the luciferase gene, labeled with ferumoxide particles and injected in the myocardium of healthy rats. Cell fate was monitored over a period of 8 weeks by bioluminescence and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging. Bioluminescence signal increased during the first week followed by a steep decrease to undetectable levels during the second week. MR imaging showed a sharp increase in R2 values shortly after injection at the injection sit...
Source: Contrast Media and Molecular Imaging - December 25, 2013 Category: Radiology Authors: A. Ruggiero, J. Guenoun, H. Smit, G. N. Doeswijk, S. Klein, G. P. Krestin, G. Kotek, M. R. Bernsen Tags: Full Paper Source Type: research

Gd loading by hypotonic swelling: an efficient and safe route for cellular labeling
Cells incubated in hypo‐osmotic media swell and their membranes become leaky. The flow of water that enters the cells results in the net transport of molecules present in the incubation medium directly into the cell cytoplasm. This phenomenon has been exploited to label cells with MRI Gd‐containing contrast agents. It has been found that, in the presence of 100 mm Gd–HPDO3A in an incubation medium characterized by an overall osmolarity of 160 mOsm l−1, each cell is loaded with amounts of paramagnetic complex ranging from 2 × 109 to 2 × 1010 depending on the cell type. To obtain more insight into the...
Source: Contrast Media and Molecular Imaging - December 25, 2013 Category: Radiology Authors: Enza Di Gregorio, Giuseppe Ferrauto, Eliana Gianolio, Silvio Aime Tags: Full Paper Source Type: research

New carboxysilane‐coated iron oxide nanoparticles for nonspecific cell labelling
This study reports the synthesis at the gram scale of iron oxide nanoparticles as MRI T2 contrast agents for cell labelling. These NPs are based on small iron oxide cores coated with a thin polysiloxane shell presenting carboxylic acid functions. The iron oxide cores produced have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, ζ‐potential, infrared, photon correlation spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, magnetometry and relaxometric measurements. These measurements confirmed the expected surface modification by carboxysilane. Carboxylic groups created electrostatic repulsion between NPs ...
Source: Contrast Media and Molecular Imaging - December 25, 2013 Category: Radiology Authors: Jean‐Luc Bridot, Dimitri Stanicki, Sophie Laurent, Sébastien Boutry, Yves Gossuin, Philippe Leclère, Roberto Lazzaroni, Luce Vander Elst, Robert N. Muller Tags: Full Paper Source Type: research

Effect of r1 and r2 relaxivity of gadolinium‐based contrast agents on the T1‐weighted MR signal at increasing magnetic field strengths
Most contrast agents for magnetic respnance imaging (MRI) are gadolinium‐based T1 shortening agents. At increasing magnetic field strengths their r1 relaxivity tends to decrease while the r2 relaxivity increases. In parallel, at high fields the tissue T1 times increase and may mitigate the loss in contrast enhancement in T1‐weighted images owing to improved background suppression. In the present work we explored the MR signal for T1‐weighted spoiled gradient echo MRI sequences by simulations at three magnetic field strengths: 3, 7 and 9.4 T. The maximal available contrast enhancement (maxCE) was evaluated in absolu...
Source: Contrast Media and Molecular Imaging - December 25, 2013 Category: Radiology Authors: Gisela E. Hagberg, Klaus Scheffler Tags: Full Paper Source Type: research