Abstract #1446

Differential Play of Macrophages and T-Lymphocytes in Acute Allograft Cardiac Rejection: in vivo Cellular MRI Detection with a New Iron-Oxide Particle

Yijen Lin Wu¹, Li Liu¹, Qing Ye¹, Brent D. Barbe¹, T. Kevin Hitchens¹, Chien Ho¹,²

¹Pittsburgh NMR Center for Biomedical Research, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; ²Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Cellular MRI with iron-oxide based contrast agents offers the potential to track many cell types in vivo at high resolution. The newly modified ITRI-IOPC-NH2 particles with increased positive charge and terminal amino groups can label T-lymphocytes by simple co-incubation without eternal aids. Our results show that T-lymphocytes and macrophages exhibit different temporal appearance behavior in the rejecting cardiac allograft, indicating that they may play different roles in rejection.