Ashwini Ketkar-Atre1,
Karim Louchami2, Ting Yin1, Tom Struys1,
Willy Malaisse2, Uwe Himmelreich3
1KULeuven
Campus Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Vlaams Brabant, Belgium; 2Laboratory
of Experimental Hormonology- CP 626, Universit Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels,
Belgium; 3KU Leuven, Leuven, Vlaams Brabant, Belgium
Pancreatic islet (PIs) transplantation is one of the promising therapies for type 1 diabetes. In order to determine the fate of PIs post transplantation it is necessary to track them with non invasive imaging. In order to visualize PIs with high resolution MRI, they have been labeled with commercially available contrast agents and magnetoliposomes (MLs). We have shown that labeling with MLs can be achieved more rapidly (4h) compared to other contrast agents (up to 72h), hereby reducing potential adverse effects on PIs functionality. Longitudinal in vivo monitoring was possible after PIs engraftment in rodents.