Jyothi Menon1, 2, Praveen Gulaka1, Madalyn McKay2, Sairam Geethanath1, Vikram D. Kodibagkar, 13
1Joint program in biomedical engineering, UT Arlington/UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 2Radiology, UT Southwestern medical center, Dallas, TX, United States; 3School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
An emerging need for evaluation of promising cellular therapies is a non-invasive method to track and image the movement and health of cells following transplantation into the subject. Multi-modal imaging strategies are becoming more popular in recent times because of their improved sensitivity, higher resolution and structural/functional visualization. This study aims at formulating hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) based dual modality (MRI / Fluorescence), dual-functional (oximetry/detection) nanoprobes for cellular and molecular imaging. Studies using CRI Maestro and PISTOL imaging confirmed that these nanoprobes could be used to detect changes in oxygen tension and for fluorescence imaging.