Magnetic Particle Imaging tracks the long-term fate of <i> in vivo </i> neural cell implants with high image contrast

Abstract

'Aradhana Verma' 'Emine Ulku Saritas' 'David Schaffer' 'Steven M. Conolly'] We demonstrate that Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) enables monitoring of cellular grafts with high contrast, sensitivity, and quantitativeness. MPI directly detects the intense magnetization of iron-oxide tracers using low-frequency magnetic fields. MPI is safe, noninvasive and offers superb sensitivity, with great promise for clinical translation and quantitative single-cell tracking. Here we report the first MPI cell tracking study, showing 200-cell detection in vitro and in vivo monitoring of human neural graft clearance over 87 days in rat brain.