Comparison of Labeling Capacity for Protamine-sulphate-conjugated and FuGENE-labeled Progenitor Cardiac Stem Cells using Perfluorocarbon Nanoparticle Labels for In Vivo Murine Cardiac 19F MRI/MRS

Despite prior work, a direct comparison of the labeling of progenitor cardiac stem cells (CPCs) using protamine-sulphate (PS)-conjugated or FuGENE-labeled perfluorocarbon nanoparticle labels (based on their respective cellular uptake mechanisms), and their capacity to achieve direct cardiac 19FMRI on the same animal species, is still lacking. We report herein improved in vivo cardiac 19FMRI performance for FuGENE-labeled compared to PS-labeled CPCs.