Manganese-Enhanced MRI in the Evaluation of Cell-Based Therapy

Paul Jaegu Kim¹, Ildiko Toma¹, Phillip Harnish², Phillip Yang¹

To date, the underlying mechanism responsible for the restoration of the injured myocardium following transplantation of stem cells has not been clearly identified. Manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) has recently been published as a reliable method of imaging viable myocardium. Utilizing MEMRI, we evaluated the changes in the viability of the injured myocardium to further investigate the underlying mechanism of functional restoration using stem cell therapy. A more sensitive measurement of myocardial restoration is significantly increased MEMRI signal observed in the ESC-RGs vs. control mice (119+.005 cm3 vs .0736+.001 cm3 respectively, p=0.034), indicating improved myocardial viability. Thus, MEMRI shows a significant increase in viable myocardium in ESC-RG transplanted hearts, indicating myocardial restoration.