Ferritin Overexpression for Molecular Imaging of Transplanted Cells

Anna Naumova¹, Hans Reinecke^2,3, Vasily Yarnykh¹, Chun Yuan¹, Charles Murry^2,3

We are developing genetically-based technique for molecular imaging of the MRI gene reporter ferritin to enable noninvasive assessment of cell survival and biodistribution after transplantation into infarcted rodent heart. pcDNA3-HAFerr transduction vector encoding ferritin was successfully constructed. Mouse skeletal myoblasts transduced by the vector increased intracellular iron stores, confirmed by Prussian blue staining and yielding a robust detectable effect on T2 and T1 relaxation times in vitro. Ferritin overexpression did not affect cell viability, proliferation and differentiation into multinucleated myotubes. Our pilot studies are encouraging for further in vivo studies of transplanted cells in a beating heart.