In vivo quantification of magnetically labelled cells by MRI relaxometry

Cellular MRI, which visualizes magnetically labelled cells (cells*), is an active research field for in vivo cell therapy and tracking. The simultaneous relaxation rate measurements (R2*, R2, R1) are the basis of a quantitative cellular MRI method proposed here. U937 cells were labelled with Molday ION Rhodamine B, a bi‐functional superparamagnetic and fluorescent nanoparticle (U937*). U937* viability and proliferation were not affected in vitro. In vitro relaxometry was performed in a cell concentration range of [2.5 × 104–108] cells/mL. These measurements show the existence of complementary cell concentration intervals where these rates vary linearly. The juxtaposition of these intervals delineates a wide cell concentration range over which one of the relaxation rates in a voxel of an in vivo image can be converted into an absolute cell concentration. The linear regime was found at high concentrations for R1 in the range of [106– 2 × 108] cells/mL, at intermediate concentrations for R2 in [2.5 × 105– 5 × 107] cells/mL and at low concentrations for R2* in [8 × 104– 5 × 106] cells/mL. In vivo relaxometry was performed in a longitudinal study, with labelled U937 cells injected into a U87 glioma mouse model. Using in vitro data, maps of in vivo U937* concentrations were obtained by converting one of the in vivo relaxation rates to cell concentration maps. MRI results were compared with the corresponding optical images of the same brains, showing the usefulness of our method to accurately follow therapeutic cell biodistribution in a longitudinal study. Results also demonstrate that the method quantifies a large range of magnetically labelled cells*. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. A cellular MRI method that quantifies a large range of magnetically labelled cells is proposed. The method is based on the simultaneous measurements of R2*, R2 and R1. Cellular relaxivities are defined in vitro and used to convert relaxation rates to cell concentration in vivo. The method was applied in a glioma model using U937 cells magnetically labelled with USPIO‐NPs.