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Tracking stem cells for cardiovascular applications in vivo: focus on imaging techniques

Yingli Fu, Nicole Azene, Yi Xu and Dara L Kraitchman

Despite rapid translation of stem cell therapy into clinical practice, the treatment of cardiovascular disease using embryonic stem cells, adult stem and progenitor cells or induced pluripotent stem cells has not yielded satisfactory results to date. Noninvasive stem cell imaging techniques could provide greater insight into not only the therapeutic benefit, but also the fundamental mechanisms underlying stem cell fate, migration, survival and engraftment in vivo. This information could also assist in the appropriate choice of stem cell type(s), delivery routes and dosing regimes in clinical cardiovascular stem cell trials. Multiple imaging modalities, such as MRI, PET, SPECT and CT, have emerged, offering the ability to localize, monitor and track stem cells in vivo. This article discusses stem cell labeling approaches and highlights the latest cardiac stem cell imaging techniques that may help clinicians, research scientists or other healthcare professionals select the best cellular therapeutics for cardiovascular disease management.