Karl Saldanha1,2, Kimberly Loo1,
Sharmila Majumdar1,2
1Department of Radiology, UCSF, San
Francisco, CA, United States; 2Joint Graduate Group in
Bioengineering, UC Berkeley/UCSF, San Francisco, CA, United States
To
aid in the development and implementation of clinically viable stem
cell-based tissue engineering therapies, a technique is needed to monitor
implanted cells throughout the course of treatment. Labeling of stem cells
with an iron oxide contrast agent prior to implantation has the potential to
allow for longitudinal non-invasive in vivo assessment of the
bio-distribution of transplanted cells via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
This study aims to investigate labeling of stem cells with micrometer-sized
iron oxide particles to enable MRI detection, and its applications in
longitudinal monitoring of stem cell-based musculoskeletal tissue
engineering.
Keywords