QING YE1, Yijen Lin Wu1, Lesley M. Foley1, T K. Hitchens1, Hao Sen Zhang1, Danielle Eytan1, Chih Lung Chen2, Chien Ho1
1NMR Center for Biomedical Research, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 2Industrial technology research institute, Taiwan
Chronic cardiac allograft rejection (CCAR) remains a major obstacle for long-term survival after heart transplantation. Non-invasive assessment of cardiac allograft status is highly desirable. We are developing non-invasive means for detecting allograft rejection by using MRI techniques. Because immune cells are involved in the development of CCAR, in this study, we used a chronic rejection working heart rat model and labeled immune cells in situ with micrometer-sized paramagnetic iron oxide particles. The accumulation of labeled cells in rejecting allograft was monitored with cellular MRI. Our data shows that MRI detection of rejection is well correlated with the pathology changes.