Cell tracking and therapy evaluation of bone marrow monocytes and stromal cells using SPECT and CMR in a canine model of myocardial infarction.

Background: The clinical application of stem cell therapy for myocardial infarction will require the development of methods to monitor treatment and pre-clinical assessment in a large animal model, to determine its effectiveness and the optimum cell population, route of delivery, timing, and flow milieu.

Objectives: To establish a model for a) in vivo tracking to monitor cell engraftment after autologous transplantation and b) concurrent measurement of infarct evolution and remodeling.

Methods: We evaluated 22 dogs (8 sham controls, 7 treated with autologous bone marrow monocytes, and 7 with stromal cells) using both imaging of 111Indium-tropolone labeled cells and late gadolinium enhancement CMR for up to12 weeks after a 3 hour coronary occlusion.