Tracking of mesenchymal stem cells labeled with gadolinium diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid by 7T magnetic resonance imaging in a model of cerebral ischemia

Abstract

0.05). In the in vitro T1weighted MRI and in the rat brain, a high signal intensity was observed in the labeled MSCs. The T1weighted imaging of the labeled cells revealed a significantly higher signal intensity compared with that of the unlabeled cells (P<0.05) and the T1 values were significantly lower. The function of the labeled MSCs demonstrated no change following GdDTPA labeling, with no evident adverse effect on cell viability or proliferation. Therefore, a change in MR signal intensity was detected in vitro and in vivo, suggesting GdDTPA can be used to label MSCs for MRI tracking.