title: Ferritin enhances SPIO tracking of C6 rat glioma cells by MRI.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effect of ferritin protein overexpression on superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) particle labeling of C6 rat glioma cells, and track the labeled cells in vivo using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
  
  
  METHODS
  A plasmid of H-chain of murine ferritin gene was constructed and transfected into C6 cells. The parental and the transfected C6 cells labeled with SPIO were bilaterally inoculated subcutaneously into nude mice. The mice were imaged by multiple T2-weighted MR scans after C6 cell inoculation. The mice were killed 2 weeks later, and the concentration of iron in the tumor tissue was measured by inductively coupled plasma.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The iron concentration in xenografts derived from SPIO-labeled C6 cells that were transfected with ferritin plasmid was significantly higher than that in xenografts from parental C6 cells that were labeled with SPIO but not transfected (p = 0.034, N = 5). Ferritin-transfected C6 cells showed an improved T(2) contrast in vivo compared with parental cells labeled with SPIO but not transfected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Coordinating ferritin with SPIO can lead to a longer MRI cellular tracking period.
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, Nanjing Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Jiandong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Gaojun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.forename: Qiujue
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Feipeng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Shuanghui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Guangming
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Xiaoyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005293:Ferritins / Q000378:metabolism*; D052203:Ferrosoferric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D005910:Glioma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D051381:Rats; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
chemical_list: C427127:superparamagnetic blood pool agent; D005293:Ferritins; D052203:Ferrosoferric Oxide