Abstract
The purpose of this study was to label human monocytes with Gadofluorine M by simple incubation for subsequent cell depiction at 1.5 and 3 T. Gadofluorine M displays a high r1 relaxivity and is spontaneously phagocytosed by macrophages. Human monocytes were incubated with Gadofluorine M-Cy at varying concentrations and incubation times and underwent MR imaging at 1.5 and 3 T at increasing time intervals after the labeling procedure. R1-relaxation rates and r1 relaxivities of the labeled cells and non-labeled controls were determined. Cellular contrast agent uptake was examined by fluorescence microscopy and quantified by ICP-AES. Efficient cell labeling was achieved after incubation of the cells with 25 mM Gd Gadofluorine M for 12 h, resulting in a maximal uptake of 0.3 fmol Gd/cell without impairment of cell viability. Fluorescence microscopy confirmed internalization of the fluorescent contrast agent by monocytes. The r1 relaxivity of the labeled cells was 137 mM−1s−1 at 1.5 T and 80.46 mM−1s−1 at 3 T. Imaging studies showed stable labeling for at least 7 days. Human monocytes can be effectively labeled for MR imaging with Gadofluorine M. Potential in vivo cell-tracking applications include targeting of inflammatory processes with Gadofluorine-labeled leukocytes or monitoring of stem cell therapies for the treatment of arthritis.
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Both authors, Tobias D. Henning and Olaf Saborowski, contributed equally to this manuscript.
This work was supported in part by a Academic Senate grant from the University of California of San Francisco (D-L), stipends from the German Research Association (TDH) and from the Schering AG (OS), by the US National Institutes of Health grants HL-24136 and HL 59157 from the National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and CA082923 from the National Cancer Institute (DMcD).
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Henning, T.D., Saborowski, O., Golovko, D. et al. Cell labeling with the positive MR contrast agent Gadofluorine M. Eur Radiol 17, 1226–1234 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-006-0522-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-006-0522-9