title: Near-infrared fluorescence labeling allows noninvasive tracking of bone marrow stromal cells transplanted into rat infarct brain.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Noninvasive imaging techniques would be needed to validate the therapeutic benefits of cell transplantation therapy for central nervous system disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether near-infrared (NIR)-emitting fluorescence tracer, quantum dots, would be useful to noninvasively visualize the bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) transplanted into the infarct brain in living animals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rat BMSCs were labeled with QD800. In vitro and in vivo conditions to visualize NIR fluorescence were precisely optimized. The QD800-labeled BMSCs were stereotactically transplanted into the ipsilateral striatum of the rats subjected to permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion 7 days after the insult. Using the NIR fluorescence imaging technique, the behaviors of BMSCs were serially visualized during the 8 weeks after transplantation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  NIR fluorescence imaging could noninvasively detect the NIR fluorescence emitted from the transplanted BMSCs engrafted in the peri-infarct neocortex through the scalp up to 8 weeks after transplantation. The intensity gradually increased and reached the peak at 4 weeks. The results were supported by the findings on ex vivo NIR fluorescence imaging and histological analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NIR fluorescence imaging is valuable in monitoring the behaviors of donor cells in the rodent brain. The results would allow new opportunities to develop noninvasive NIR fluorescence imaging as a modality to track the BMSCs transplanted into the brain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Taku
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Osanai
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shichinohe
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuge
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Masahito
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawabori
authors.forename: Yoshinobu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes