Nanoparticle-Based CT Imaging Technique for Longitudinal and Quantitative Stem Cell Tracking within the Brain: Application in Neuropsychiatric Disorders

A critical problem in the development and implementation of stem cell-based therapy is the lack of reliable, noninvasive means to image and trace the cells post-transplantation and evaluate their biodistribution, final fate, and functionality. In this study, we developed a gold nanoparticle-based CT imaging technique for longitudinal mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) tracking within the brain. We applied this technique for noninvasive monitoring of MSCs transplanted in a rat model for depression. Our research reveals that cell therapy is a potential approach for treating neuropsychiatric disorders. Our results, which demonstrate that cell migration could be detected as early as 24 h and up to one month post-transplantation, revealed that MSCs specifically navigated and homed to distinct depression-related brain regions. We further developed a noninvasive quantitative CT ruler, which can be used to determine the number of cells residing in a specific brain region, without tissue destruction or animal scarification. This technique may have a transformative effect on cellular therapy, both for basic research and clinical applications.