This study aimed to investigate in vivo dynamic metabolic changes after transplantation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and iPSC-derived enriched cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) in a rat model of ischemic injury.
Methods: Serial 18F-FDG PET, echocardiographic, immunohistochemical, and immunofluorescence studies were performed after transplantation of iPSCs and iPSC-CMs and compared with embryonic stem cells (ESCs), ESC-CMs, and a phosphate-buffered saline control group of rats with myocardial infarction.
Results: Increased glucose metabolism in periinfarct areas and improved myocardial function were observed in the stem cell transplantation groups compared with the control group, and serial immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical results exhibited the survival and migration of stem cells during the study period.
Conclusion: Serial 18F-FDG PET and echocardiographic imaging studies demonstrated the dynamic metabolic changes and recovery of myocardial function after stem cell transplantation. 18F-FDG PET could be a potential approach to evaluating spatiotemporal dynamic metabolic changes in vivo after transplantation of iPSCs or iPSC-CMs for ischemic injury.
Keywords: induced PSC-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs); induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC); metabolism; myocardial ischemia; positron emission tomography (PET).
© 2016 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Inc.