Prodromos Parasoglou1, Joe J. Rodriguez2,
Cesar A. Berrios-Otero2, Brian J. Nieman3, Daniel H.
Turnbull2
1Skirball Institute of
Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine , New York,
United States; 2Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New
York University School of Medicine, New York, United States; 3Mouse
Imaging Centre, the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Multipotent neurobalsts (NBs) are produced throughout life by neural stem cells in the forebrain subventricular zone (SVZ) and can travel long distances to the olfactory bulb along the rostral migratory stream (RMS). On arrival in the bulb, NBs replace olfactory neurons suggesting their potential use for novel cell replacement therapies. In this study we report the use of MRI to follow simultaneously the movement of magnetically labeled SVZ cells along the RMS and towards a quinolinic acid (QA) lesion. The ability to directly monitor cell migration in the mouse brain will enable important investigations of neural cell response to injury.