cortex

Project number:

601

Project title:

In vivo MR imaging of stem cells labeled with superparamagnetic nanoparticles and transplanted in animal models of brain and spinal cord injury

Project supervisor:

Eva Sykova

Project description:

The adult central nervous system possesses a limited capacity for regeneration, thus the prospects for recovery after CNS injury are generally grim. Advances in stem cell research have opened new possibilities for repairing the nervous system. Stem cells have the capacity to migrate towards lesions and induce or facilitate site-dependent differentiation in response to environmental signals. Transplanted stem cells can either differentiate into neural cells and directly replace lost populations of cells or they can produce cytokines or growth factors that can lead to neural cell rescue or enhance regeneration. Investigations into the possible use of cell-based therapies so far have required the invasive analysis of brain sections post mortem; this does not, however, provide data about the dynamics of the process or about the migration of the transplanted cells in the host organism. For the possible use of grafted stem cells in human medicine, it would be beneficial to find a suitable marker that would allow us to follow the fate of implanted cells using a noninvasive method, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This project will explore the use of MRI to track stem cells labelled with superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles and transplanted into animal models of brain and spinal cord injury. The data obtained will describe the in vivo behaviour of the transplanted stem cells in the host organism over time in terms of their survival, migration, differentiation and ultimate fate, as well as allow investigation of the potential efficacy of such a therapeutic approach. In the future, this methodology would enable us to follow the migration of transplanted cells in humans, establish the optimal number of transplanted cells, define therapeutic windows and monitor cell growth and possible side effects (malignancies). By using MR imaging, the stress for the patient would be minimised. Labelling cells with a contrast substance based on magnetic nanobeads is already accepted in human medicine. The proposed use of MRI and superparamagnetic nanoparticles to monitor transplanted cells is a highly innovative and original approach that could be directly applicable to human medicine to monitor the course, results and potential risks of cell therapy in the treatment of nervous system injury.

Possible cortex partners for rotation:

Partner 1, Berlin: other brain imaging techniques such as PET; translation of the project methodology from animal studies to human clinical practice

Partner 8, Zurich: spinal cord injury and repair, use of stem cells for the treatment of CNS injury, animal models of CNS injury, imaging techniques such as animal MRI and PET