Abstract #0526

Novel Trimodal Gadolinium-Gold Microcapsules for Simultaneous Immunoprotection and Positive Contrast MRI, X-Ray, and Ultrasound Imaging of Human Pancreatic Islet Cells.

Dian Respati Arifin^1,2, Christopher Long^1,2, Assaf A. Gilad^1,2, Sameer Manek^2,3, Emma Call², Christophe Alric⁴, Stephane Roux⁴, Olivier Tillement⁴, Thomas W. Link^2,3, Aravind Arepally¹, Jeff W.M. Bulte^1,2

¹Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; ²Cellular Imaging Section, Institute for Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; ³Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; ⁴Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Materiaux Luminescents, Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France

Transplantation of pancreatic islet cells is a potential treatment for type I diabetes. Pancreatic islet cells and novel gold nanoparticles functionalized with DTDTPA:gadolinium chelates (GadoGold) were encapsulated inside immunoprotective microcapsules. The viability and functionality of cells encapsulated in GadoGold microcapsules was demonstrated in vitro and in vivo in diabetic mice. The capsules were readily imaged with 9.4 Tesla MRI, micro-CT, and a 40 MHz ultrasound imager. GadoGold microcapsules have potential for cell engraftment providing a means to monitor transplanted cells in vivo using MRI , X-ray and/or ultrasound imaging.