Ultrasensitive in Vivo Fluorescence Imaging of Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Small Molecule-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in BALB/c mice.

Abstract

\n BackgroundMesenchymal cell has been frequently used in clinical studies. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are self-renewing, multipotent stem cells with the potential to differentiate into multiple mesoderm lineages. But MSC have limitation in clinical application for treating human diseases because they can differentiate several types of cell but not all types. PSL (Pluripotent Stem cell Like cell) are newly developed pluripotent stem cells from human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) induced by small molecule compounds. These cells have potential advantages for clinical cell treatment compared with ESCs and iPSCs.MethodsWe induced pluripotency from MSC using small molecules. It has tried to trace MSC and PSL in mice using bioluminescent techniques, which can detect visible light emitted from cells labeled with miRNA conjugated fluorescent molecules. ResultsMSCs predominantly migrate into the brain and testis. They also migrate to the liver, omentum, mesentery, kidneys and spleen. Migration of PSL is similar to MSCs, in that they go to the brain, testis and other intraperitoneal organs. Fluorescent images of explanted organs show that the intensity of brain images is higher in the PSL mouse group than the MSC mouse group. However, testis, image intensity is higher in MSC mouse group than the PSL mouse group. In PSL but not MSC mice, fluorescence persisted at the injection site in the tail.ConclusionsIn this study, injected MSCs and PSL predominantly migrated to the brain and testis. But, PSL migration was more than MSC migration in Brain. Both cell types had a similar migration pattern except for persistent fluorescence at injection site in the tail vein of PSL mice. We expect these cell therapy may have many potentials for clinical studies on these notable treatments.