In vivo noninvasive monitoring of dissolved oxygen concentration within an implanted tissue-engineered pancreatic construct.

The function of an implanted tissue-engineered pancreatic construct is influenced by many in vivo factors; however, assessing its function is based primarily on end physiologic effects. As oxygen significantly affects cell function, we established a dual perfluorocarbon method that utilizes (19)F nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, with perfluorocarbons as oxygen concentration markers, to noninvasively monitor dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) in βTC-tet cell-containing alginate beads and at the implantation milieu. Beads were implanted in the peritoneal cavity of normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice. Using this method, the feasibility of acquiring real-time in vivo DO measurements was demonstrated. Results showed that the mouse peritoneal environment is hypoxic and the DO is further reduced when βTC-tet cell constructs were implanted. The DO within cell-containing beads decreased considerably over time and could be correlated with the relative changes in the number of viable encapsulated cells. The reduction of construct DO due to the metabolic activity of the βTC-tet cells was also compatible with the implant therapeutic function, as observed in the reversal of hyperglycemia in diabetic mice. The importance of these findings in assessing implant functionality and host animal physiology is discussed.