Noninvasive Optical Imaging andIn VivoCell Tracking of Indocyanine Green Labeled Human Stem Cells Transplanted at Superficial or In-Depth Tissue of SCID Mice

Abstract

Stem cell based therapies hold great promise for the treatment of human diseases; however results from several recent clinical studies have not shown a level of efficacy required for their use as a first-line therapy, because more often in these studies fate of the transplanted cells is unknown. Thus monitoring the real-time fate ofin vivotransplanted cells is essential to validate the full potential of stem cells based therapy. Recent studies have shown how real-timein vivomolecular imaging has helped in identifying hurdles towards clinical translation and designing potential strategies that may contribute to successful transplantation of stem cells and improved outcomes. At present, there are no cost effective and efficient labeling techniques for tracking the cells underin vivoconditions. Indocyanine green (ICG) is a safer, economical, and superior labelling technique forin vivooptical imaging. ICG is a FDA-approved agent and decades of usage have clearly established the effectiveness of ICG for human clinical applications. In this study, we have optimized the ICG labelling conditions that is optimal for noninvasive optical imaging and demonstrated that ICG labelled cells can be successfully used forin vivocell tracking applications in SCID mice injury models.