Heyn Chris, Ronald John A, Mackenzie Lisa T, MacDonald Ian C, Chambers Ann F, Rutt Brian K, Foster Paula J
Imaging Research Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada.
Magn Reson Med. 2006 Jan;55(1):23-9. doi: 10.1002/mrm.20747.
In the current work we demonstrate, for the first time, that single cells can be detected in mouse brain in vivo using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cells were labeled with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and injected into the circulation of mice. Individual cells trapped within the microcirculation of the brain could be visualized with high-resolution MRI using optimized MR hardware and the fast imaging employing steady state acquisition (FIESTA) pulse sequence on a 1.5 T clinical MRI scanner. Single cells appear as discrete signal voids on MR images. Direct optical validation was provided by coregistering signal voids on MRI with single cells visualized using high-resolution confocal microscopy. This work demonstrates the sensitivity of MRI for detecting single cells in small animals for a wide range of application from stem cell to cancer cell tracking.
在当前的研究中，我们首次证明，使用磁共振成像（MRI）能够在小鼠大脑的活体中检测到单个细胞。细胞用超顺磁性氧化铁纳米颗粒标记后注入小鼠血液循环。被困在大脑微循环中的单个细胞，通过优化的磁共振硬件以及在1.5T临床MRI扫描仪上使用稳态采集快速成像（FIESTA）脉冲序列的高分辨率MRI得以可视化。单个细胞在磁共振图像上表现为离散的信号缺失。通过将MRI上的信号缺失与使用高分辨率共聚焦显微镜可视化的单个细胞进行配准，提供了直接的光学验证。这项工作证明了MRI在检测小动物体内单个细胞方面的敏感性，可用于从干细胞追踪到癌细胞追踪的广泛应用。
