Tracking Neural Stem Cells in Patients with Brain Trauma

Abstract

To the Editor: Regeneration of damaged brain tissue with neural stem cells is a promising strategy for reversing neurologic deficits.1 Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles have been used to label and track dendritic cells in the experimental treatment of melanoma2 and in experiments in animals.3 We report the feasibility of labeling neural stem cells from humans (two patients for whom written informed consent was provided by next of kin) with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and tracking them with the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A 34-year-old man had brain trauma in the left temporal lobe in February 2004. During an . . .