Abstract #1880

Zheng T, Grant S, Edison A, Steindler D, Walter G, Laywell E, Weiss M, Yang H, Cornnell H, Scott E, Santra S, Holloway P, Marshall II G, Dutta D

Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) is a major cause of neuronal injury in neonates. A potential treatment may be neural stem cell implantation. MR microscopy can fully evaluate this treatment because it can interrogate stem cell proliferation and the recovery of infarction. In this study, unilateral HIE has been instituted in a neonatal murine model, and multipotent asctrocytic stem cells (MASC) labeled with a unique contrast agent providing MR and optical enhancement have been injected into the effected cortex. MR images acquired in and ex vivo display MASC integration along white matter tracts as well as bilateral proliferation in the ventricles.