3D visualization of transplanted stem cells in infarcted rat heartsby high-resolution X-ray microtomography

Stem-cell–based therapies involve the administration of ex-vivo– manipulated stem cell populations with the purpose of repairing and regenerating damaged tissues. To monitor the outcomes of stem cell therapy longitudinally requires the development of non-destructive strategies that are capable of identifying the location, magnitude, and duration of cellular survival and fate. In the field of cardiology the existence, in murine and human heart, of primitive cells able to generate all the different component structures of the myocardium has been recently documented. Synchrotron-Radiation–based X-Ray computed microtomography (SRmicroCT) offers great potential to address these critical issues by non-invasively tracking the fate of the transplanted cells. In this review work, we explored the use of SR-microCT for detection of rat Cardiac Progenitor Cells, previously labeled with iron oxide tracers, inside the infarcted rat heart, one week after injection and in ex vivo conditions. This work on the one side strongly contributed to understand how and to which extent the injected cells are able to migrate and regenerate the damaged myocardium, on the other demonstrated that microCT appears to be an important way to investigate the cellular events involved in cardiac regeneration and represents a promising tool for future clinical applications.