SPIO-Labeled Cells as an Ffective Vehicle for Tracking GFP Gene Marker with MRI

Zhuoli Zhang^1,2, Nicole Mascheri¹, Rohan Dharmakumar¹, Zhaoyang Fan¹, Shengyong Wu², Debiao Li¹, Mark Tengowski²

Detection of a gene using MRI is hindered by the MR targeting gene technique. Therefore it may be advantageous to image labeled gene expressed cells with SPIO by MRI. The GFP-R3230Ac cell line was incubated using SPIO with at a concentration of 20 g Fe/mL. SPIO was used to effectively label GFP-cell with no effects on cell function and GFP expression. Labeled GFP-cells were successfully imaged with both fluorescent microscopy and T2*-weighted MRI. Prussian blue staining showed intracellular iron accumulation in the cells. The study demonstrated that the GFP expression and function of cell were not altered by the SPIO labeling process. The technique holds promise for monitoring the temporal and spatial migration of cell with gene marker and likely to enhance the understanding of cell-, gene-based therapeutic strategies.