Tracking of mesenchymal stem cells with fluorescence endomicroscopy imaging

In this work, you will find how to use the fluorescence endomicroscopy as a novel imaging tool to track MSCs in vivo. MSCs were fluorescently labeled and injected into a rat model of radiation-induced lung injury via endotracheal (ET) or intravascular (IV) administration. The results show that MSCs were visible in the lungs with fluorescence endomicroscopy. Together with automatic cell counting algorithm to quantify the number of detected cells in each condition there was observed a significantly higher number of detected cells in ET injection compared to IV and a slight increase in the mean number of detected cells in irradiated lungs compared to control, although the latter did not reach statistical significance. Fluorescence endomicroscopy imaging is a powerful new minimally invasive and translatable tool that can be used to track and quantify MSCs in the lungs and help assess their potential in organ repair.

Read more