1. Imaging of single human carcinoma cells in vitro using a clinical whole-body magnetic resonance scanner at 3.0 T
- Author
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Jens, Pinkernelle, Ulf, Teichgräber, Fabian, Neumann, Lukas, Lehmkuhl, Jens, Ricke, Regina, Scholz, Andreas, Jordan, and Harald, Bruhn
- Subjects
Staining and Labeling ,Iron ,Carcinoma ,Contrast Media ,Dextrans ,Oxides ,In Vitro Techniques ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Ferrosoferric Oxide ,Colonic Neoplasms ,Tumor Cells, Cultured ,Humans ,Magnetite Nanoparticles ,Aged - Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine whether single human carcinoma cells labeled with iron oxide nanoparticles could be detected by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging on a clinical 3-T scanner using a surface coil only. WiDr human colon carcinoma cells were loaded with two kinds of iron oxide nanoparticles differing by coating and size: aminosilan-coated (MagForce) and carboxy-dextran-coated particles (Resovist). The latter were preferred by the colon carcinoma cell line used here and taken up much faster (12 h) than the smaller carboxydextran-coated Resovist (48 h). Labeled single carcinoma cells, distributed in an agarose gel in a monodisperse layer as controlled by light microscopy, became detectable as punctuate signal extinctions when using a small circularly polarized surface coil in conjunction with a T(2)*-weighted GE sequence at 3 T. The threshold for the detectability of labeled colon carcinoma cells ranged at a load of 4-5 mug iron/10(6) cells. Obviating the need for special hardware additions, this study opens a new lane for single-cell tracking on clinical 3-T MR scanners amenable to patient studies.
- Published
- 2005