Abstract #0933

Evaluation of LV and AAV Vector Systems for Stable Delivery of MRI Reporter Genes to the Rodent Brain

Greetje Vande Velde¹, Janaki Raman Rangarajan², Tom Dresselaers³, Olga Krylyshkina¹, Abdelilah Ibrahimi¹, Zeger Debyser¹, Veerle Baekelandt¹, Uwe Himmelreich³

¹Molecular Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Flanders, Belgium; ²Medical Imaging Center, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Flanders, Belgium; ³Biomedical Nuclear NMR unit, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Flanders, Belgium

Utilizing lentiviral (LV) and adeno-associated (AAV) viral vector systems for delivering MRI reporter genes (e.g. ferritin) will allow stable labeling and in vivo visualization of marked cells, but their potential limitations for MRI are often insufficiently addressed. Injection in rodent brain of LV/AAV without MRI reporter genes results in hypointense contrast at the injection site on T2*-weighted MRI that correlates with the presence of Fe3+ and microglia. This challenges the signal-to-noise properties of putative MRI reporter genes.