Magnetic resonance imaging focused on the ferritin heavy chain 1 reporter gene detects neuronal differentiation in stem cells

作者全名："He, Xiao-Ya; Zhou, Yi-Rui; Mu, Tong; Liao, Yi-Fan; Jiang, Li; Qin, Yong; Cai, Jin-Hua"

作者地址："[He, Xiao-Ya; Zhou, Yi-Rui; Mu, Tong; Liao, Yi-Fan; Qin, Yong; Cai, Jin-Hua] Childrens Hosp Chongqing Med Univ, Natl Clin Res Ctr Child Hlth & Disorders, Dept Radiol, Minist Educ,Key Lab Child Dev & Disorders,Chongqin, Chongqing, Peoples R China; [Mu, Tong] Sichuan Univ, West China Hosp, Dept Endocrinol & Metab, Chengdu, Sichuan, Peoples R China; [Liao, Yi-Fan] Second Hosp Army Med Univ, Dept Nucl Med, Chongqing, Peoples R China; [Jiang, Li] Childrens Hosp Chongqing Med Univ, Dept Neurol, Chongqing, Peoples R China"

通信作者："Cai, JH (通讯作者)，Childrens Hosp Chongqing Med Univ, Natl Clin Res Ctr Child Hlth & Disorders, Dept Radiol, Minist Educ,Key Lab Child Dev & Disorders,Chongqin, Chongqing, Peoples R China."

来源：NEURAL REGENERATION RESEARCH

ESI学科分类：NEUROSCIENCE & BEHAVIOR

WOS号：WOS:000935639600031

JCR分区：Q2

影响因子：6.1

年份：2023

卷号：18

期号：7

开始页：1563

结束页：1569

文献类型：Article

关键词：ferric ammonium citrate;; ferritin heavy chain 1 gene;; magnetic resonance imaging; mesenchymal stem cells; molecular imaging; neuronal differentiation;; neuron-like cells; neurons; neuron-specific enolase; promoter

摘要："The neuronal differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells offers a new strategy for the treatment of neurological disorders. Thus, there is a need to identify a noninvasive and sensitive in vivo imaging approach for real-time monitoring of transplanted stem cells. Our previous study confirmed that magnetic resonance imaging, with a focus on the ferritin heavy chain 1 reporter gene, could track the proliferation and differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells that had been transduced with lentivirus carrying the ferritin heavy chain 1 reporter gene. However, we could not determine whether or when bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells had undergone neuronal differentiation based on changes in the magnetic resonance imaging signal. To solve this problem, we identified a neuron-specific enolase that can be differentially expressed before and after neuronal differentiation in stem cells. In this study, we successfully constructed a lentivirus carrying the neuron-specific enolase promoter and expressing the ferritin heavy chain 1 reporter gene; we used this lentivirus to transduce bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. Cellular and animal studies showed that the neuron-specific enolase promoter effectively drove the expression of ferritin heavy chain 1 after neuronal differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells; this led to intracellular accumulation of iron and corresponding changes in the magnetic resonance imaging signal. In summary, we established an innovative magnetic resonance imaging approach focused on the induction of reporter gene expression by a neuron-specific promoter. This imaging method can be used to noninvasively and sensitively detect neuronal differentiation in stem cells, which may be useful in stem cell-based therapies."

基金机构：National Natural Science Foundation of China [81771892]

基金资助正文："This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81771892 (to JHC)."