title: Red blood cells as carriers in magnetic particle imaging.
abstract: Red blood cells (RBCs) represent intravascular carriers for drugs, biologics, and other therapeutic agents, characterized by their unique longevity in the bloodstream, availability, considerable surface and volume, high biocompatibility, and natural mechanisms for safe elimination. Recently, the potential of RBCs loaded with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles as a tracer material for magnetic particle imaging (MPI) to realize a blood-pool tracer agent with longer blood retention time for imaging of the circulatory system, has been investigated. MPI is a new tomographic imaging approach that can quantitatively map magnetic nanoparticle distributions in vivo. However, SPIO contrast agents, such as Resovist, have a short blood half-life due to rapid uptake by the reticuloendothelial system, which limits the applicability of such compounds for certain applications such as long-term monitoring. Here, we report the in vitro magnetic characterization study of human SPIO-loaded RBCs and the first MPI results obtained after intravenous injection of murine SPIO-loaded RBCs in an in vivo MPI experiment.
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Antonelli
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sfara
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rahmer
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gleich
authors.forename: Jörn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borgert
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Magnani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D058948:Cell Tracking / Q000379:methods*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003287:Contrast Media; D003911:Dextrans; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion / Q000379:methods*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D003911:Dextrans; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; C065507:ferumoxides