Novel Imaging Method Monitors Transplanted Cardiac Cells

Originally Published MDDI September/October 2003R&D DIGEST

September 1, 2003

2 Min Read
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Originally Published MDDI September/October 2003

R&D DIGEST

Cardiac arrest continues to be one of the most serious health risks in America. And although cardiac cell transplantation shows promise for treating heart failure, studies on cadavers have provided only snapshots of the heart at the moment of death. Now, investigators from the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology (Crump Institute of Molecular Imaging) and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, at the UCLA School of Medicine (Los Angeles) are exploring a different approach.

The group, led by Joseph C. Wu, MD, used microPET imaging technology and a special optical bioluminescent, cooled, charge-coupled device (CCD) camera to monitor the survival of transplanted rat cardiac cells within the myocardium of living animals. Forty rats were injected with H9C2 cells, and a control group of 10 rats was injected only with saline. MicroPET (using [18F]-FHBG as the reporter probe) and optical CCD (using D-Luciferin) images were acquired.

The study showed that significantly higher levels of [18F]-FHBG uptake were detectable in the area where cells had been transplanted compared with uptake in parts of the myocardium that did not receive any cells and compared with the control rats. The microPET images indicated the presence and location of viable transplanted cells. Similar results were achieved using optical CCD imaging. Importantly, the in vivo imaging results were confirmed by ex vivo autoradiography, histologic staining, and immunohistochemistry.

This was the first study of cardiac cell transplants that used both microPET and optical CCD imaging. The researchers believe that "understanding the real-time physiologic state of engrafted cells should add further insight into cell transplant biology."

Copyright ©2003 Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry

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