Abstract #1296

Tracking Iron Labeled Cells in Direct Transplant Models, Proceed with Caution

Laura Elizabeth Gonzalez-Lara^1,2, Xiaoyun Xu³, Klara Hofstetrova¹, Anna Pniak³, Arthur Brown^3,4, Paula J. Foster^1,2

¹Imaging Research Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute, London, ON, Canada; ²Department of Medical Biophysics, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; ³BioTherapeutics Research Group, Robarts Research Institute, London, ON, Canada; ⁴Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

Stem cell labeling with iron particles allows cells to be detected by MRI and is commonly used to track stem cell engraftment. However, a concern, and potential limitation, of tracking iron labeled cells with MRI is that dead cells may be taken up by bystander cells and incorrectly identified as viable. Here we report on a study where iron-labeled stem cells were monitored in vivo for 6 weeks after transplant into the injured mouse spinal cord. Direct transplantation models may represent the worst-case scenarios for cell tracking with MRI.