Review Article
Molecular Imaging in Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury
Table 2
Advantages and limitations of different imaging methods for detection of grafted stem cells (modified from Modo et al. [
81] and Spiriev et al. [
82]).
| Imaging modality | PET | MRI | BLI | FLI |
| Depth of penetration | No limit | No limit | 1-2 mm | <1 mm | Spatial resolution | 1-2 mm | 10–100 μm | Several mm | 2-3 mm | Temporal resolution | sec–min | min–hrs | sec–min | sec–min | Imaging agents | Radionuclide labeled compound | Gadolinium, dysprosium iron oxide particles | Luciferins | Fluorescent protein | Toxicity | No | Yes | No | No | Time range of detection | 6–12 months | 1-2 months | 2–8 weeks | Long-term | Detection limits in terms of cell numbers in vivo | 1 × 104–1 × 105 | 5 × 105–1 × 106 | 1 × 103–1 × 106 | 2 × 104–5 × 105 |
|
|
Sec: second, min: minute, and hrs: hours.
|