Abstract #0917

19F MRI and C-Arm CT Guiding of Reporter Probe Injection to Microencapsulated Mesenchymal Stem Cells for in Vivo Cell Viability Assessment with Bioluminescence Imaging >

Dorota A. Kedziorek¹, Piotr Walczak¹, Yingli Fu¹, Tina Ehtiati², Alexander B. Brost³, Nicole Azene¹, Gary Huang¹, Jeff W.M. Bulte¹, Steven M. Shea², Robert Krieg⁴, Ronald Ouwerkerk¹, Frank K. Wacker¹, Dara L. Kraitchman¹

¹Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; ²Imaging and Visualization, Siemens Corporate Research Inc., Baltimore, MD, USA; ³Department of Computer Science, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg , Erlangen, Germany; ⁴Siemens AG Healthcare Sector, Erlangen, Germany

The major problems with stem cell therapies are the poor cell survival and engraftment; both could be optimized with the use of non invasive imaging. In the present study, mesenchymal stem cells were engineered to express firefly luciferase (bioluminescence (BL) reporter gene) to monitor their survival and microencapsulated in perfluorooctylbromide (PFOB) alginate capsules. Bioluminescent, microencapsulated MSCs were transplanted into a rabbit model of peripheral arterial disease. C-arm CT was used to localize the radiopaque PFOB microcapsules for accurate injections of the BL probe directly into the injection sites. 19F MRI was used to demonstrate the PFOB capsules locations.