Development of a three-dimensional in vitro model for longitudinal observation of cell behavior: monitoring by magnetic resonance imaging and optical imaging

Therapeutic Plasticity of Neural Stem Cells

Neural stem cells (NSCs) have garnered significant scientific and commercial interest in the last 15 years. Given their plasticity, defined as the ability to develop into different phenotypes inside and outside of the nervous system, with a capacity of almost unlimited self-renewal, of releasing trophic and immunomodulatory factors, and of exploiting temporal and spatial dynamics, NSCs have been proposed for (i) neurotoxicity testing; (ii) cellular therapies to treat CNS diseases; (iii) neural tissue engineering and repair; (iv) drug target validation and testing; (v) personalized medicine. Moreover, given the growing interest in developing cell-based therapies to target neurodegenerative diseases, recent progress in developing NSCs from human-induced pluripotent stem cells has produced an analog of endogenous NSCs. Herein, we will review the current understanding on emerging conceptual and technological topics in the neural stem cell field, such as deep characterization of the human compartment, single-cell spatial-temporal dynamics, reprogramming from somatic cells, and NSC manipulation and monitoring. Together, these aspects contribute to further disentangling NSC plasticity to better exploit the potential of those cells, which, in the future, might offer new strategies for brain therapies.

Stem Cell Tracking Technologies for Neurological Regenerative Medicine Purposes

The growing field of stem cell therapy is moving toward clinical trials in a variety of applications, particularly for neurological diseases. However, this translation of cell therapies into humans has prompted a need to create innovative and breakthrough methods for stem cell tracing, to explore the migration routes and its reciprocity with microenvironment targets in the body, to monitor and track the outcome after stem cell transplantation therapy, and to track the distribution and cell viability of transplanted cells noninvasively and longitudinally. Recently, a larger number of cell tracking methods in vivo were developed and applied in animals and humans, including magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine imaging, and optical imaging. This review has been intended to summarize the current use of those imaging tools in tracking stem cells, detailing their main features and drawbacks, including image resolution, tissue penetrating depth, and biosafety aspects. Finally, we address that multimodality imaging method will be a more potential tracking tool in the future clinical application.

Multimodality molecular imaging of stem cells therapy for stroke

Stem cells have been proposed as a promising therapy for treating stroke. While several studies have demonstrated the therapeutic benefits of stem cells, the exact mechanism remains elusive. Molecular imaging provides the possibility of the visual representation of biological processes at the cellular and molecular level. In order to facilitate research efforts to understand the stem cells therapeutic mechanisms, we need to further develop means of monitoring these cells noninvasively, longitudinally and repeatedly. Because of tissue depth and the blood-brain barrier (BBB), in vivo imaging of stem cells therapy for stroke has unique challenges. In this review, we describe existing methods of tracking transplanted stem cells in vivo, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine imaging, and optical imaging (OI). Each of the imaging techniques has advantages and drawbacks. Finally, we describe multimodality imaging strategies as a more comprehensive and potential method to monitor transplanted stem cells for stroke.

A spheroid-based 3-D culture model for pancreatic cancer drug testing, using the acid phosphatase assay

Current therapy for pancreatic cancer is multimodal, involving surgery and chemotherapy. However, development of pancreatic cancer therapies requires a thorough evaluation of drug efficacy in vitro before animal testing and subsequent clinical trials. Compared to two-dimensional culture of cell monolayer, three-dimensional (3-D) models more closely mimic native tissues, since the tumor microenvironment established in 3-D models often plays a significant role in cancer progression and cellular responses to the drugs. Accumulating evidence has highlighted the benefits of 3-D in vitro models of various cancers. In the present study, we have developed a spheroid-based, 3-D culture of pancreatic cancer cell lines MIAPaCa-2 and PANC-1 for pancreatic drug testing, using the acid phosphatase assay. Drug efficacy testing showed that spheroids had much higher drug resistance than monolayers. This model, which is characteristically reproducible and easy and offers rapid handling, is the preferred choice for filling the gap between monolayer cell cultures and in vivo models in the process of drug development and testing for pancreatic cancer.

Measuring collective cell movement and extracellular matrix interactions using magnetic resonance imaging

Collective cell behaviors in migration and force generation were studied at the mesoscopic-level using cells grown in a 3D extracellular matrix (ECM) simulating tissues. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was applied to investigate dynamic cell mechanics at this level. MDCK, NBT2, and MEF cells were embedded in 3D ECM, forming clusters that then migrated and generated forces affecting the ECM. The cells demonstrated MRI contrast due to iron accumulation in the clusters. Timelapse-MRI enabled the measurement of dynamic stress fields generated by the cells, as well as simultaneous monitoring of the cell distribution and ECM deformation/remodeling. We found cell clusters embedded in the 3D ECM can exert translational forces to pull and push, as well as torque, their surroundings. We also observed that the sum of forces generated by multiple cell clusters may result in macroscopic deformation. In summary, MRI can be used to image cell-ECM interactions mesoscopically.

Noninvasive multimodal imaging of stem cell transplants in the brain using bioluminescence imaging and magnetic resonance imaging

Transplantation of stem cells represents a promising approach for the therapy of different brain diseases, including stroke, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease. Tracking of stem cells with noninvasive imaging technologies provides insight into location, migration, and proliferation of the cells-key features for a possible clinical translation. This chapter describes a multimodal and noninvasive approach employing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and bioluminescence imaging (BLI), both of which offer the opportunity for repetitive measurements on the same individual, revealing the full temporal profile of cell dynamics. The combination of these modalities allows the simultaneous investigation of different aspects of the graft fate. We will present the detailed protocol for noninvasive multimodal tracking of labeled and transplanted neural stem cells, specifically optimized for brain applications, which allows repetitive assessment of localization as well as identification of cell viability and cell quantity after transplantation.

Bioconjugated and cross-linked bionanostructures for bifunctional immunohistochemical labeling

The present study describes the development and use of a new bioconjugate combining targeted quantum dot labeling with an immunoperoxidase method and explores whether these bioconjugates could specifically and effectively label Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1). The new bioconjugate is designed for the examination of samples both under fluorescent and bright-field microscopy at the same time. For this purpose chlorobis(2-2'-bipyridyl) methacryloyl tyrosine-ruthenium(II) and bis (2-2'-bipyridyl) methacryloyltyrosine-methacryloyltryptophan-ruthenium (II) photosensitive monomers and photosensitive poly(Bis (2-2'-bipyridyl)) methacryloyltyrosine-methacryloyltryptophan-ruthenium(II) were synthesized and characterized. The anti-SOD1 antibody and horseradish peroxidase (HRD) conjugated quantum dots were prepared by using this polymer. The anti-SOD1 antibody and HRD conjugated quantum dots were used in labeling and imaging of SOD1 in rat liver sections. Quantum dot particles were observed as a bright fluorescence in their specific binding locations inside the hepatocytes. The HRD-diaminobenzidine reaction product was observed as brown-colored particles at the same locations under bright-field microscopy. Structural details of the tissue sections could be examined at the same time. The conjugation protocol is simple; the bioconjugate is applicable for efficient cell labeling and can be adapted for imaging of other targets in different tissues. Also, the prepared nanobioconjugates have mechanic stability and can be used for a long period.

In vivo imaging of cell transplants in experimental ischemia

The therapeutic potential of stem cells for regeneration after cerebral lesion has become of great interest. This is particularly so for neurodegenerative diseases as well as for stroke. Contrary to more conventional, cerebroprotective treatment approaches, the focus of regeneration lies in a longer time window during the chronic phase of the lesion evolution. Thus, in order to assess the true potential of a treatment strategy and to investigate the underlying mechanisms, observation of the temporal profile of both the cell dynamics as well as the organ response to the treatment is of paramount importance. This need for intraindividual longitudinal studies can be optimally met by the application of noninvasive imaging modalities. This chapter presents in breadth the potential of noninvasive imaging modalities for cell tracking with application focus to experimental stroke. While the lion's share of discussed studies is based on MRI, we have also included the contributions of positron emission tomography and of the increasingly important optical imaging modality.

MRI stem cell tracking for therapy in experimental cerebral ischemia

Magnetic resonance has an established role in investigations on the evolution of stroke and the assessment of therapeutic strategies in experimental animals. Here we show that the technique has also an important place for the study of stem cell-mediated regenerative therapies after stroke. We review the literature by bridging from the methodological aspects of stem cell labeling via grafting and monitoring of cell dynamics after implantation into the brain all the way to MRI's role in analyzing the stem cell-mediated functional improvement. Thus, we have aimed at a view combining the focus on the monitoring of the cell activities with the aspect of lesion evolution while including also the essence of a potential functional improvement by the implantation of stem cells following stroke.

Molecular imaging of transcriptional regulation during inflammation

Molecular imaging enables non-invasive visualization of the dynamics of molecular processes within living organisms in vivo. Different imaging modalities as MRI, SPECT, PET and optic imaging are used together with molecular probes specific for the biological process of interest. Molecular imaging of transcription factor activity is done in animal models and mostly in transgenic reporter mice, where the transgene essentially consists of a promoter that regulates a reporter gene. During inflammation, the transcription factor NF-κB is widely involved in orchestration and regulation of the immune system and almost all imaging studies in this field has revolved around the role and regulation of NF-κB. We here present a brief introduction to experimental use and design of transgenic reporter mice and a more extensive review of the various studies where molecular imaging of transcriptional regulation has been applied during inflammation.