Stem Cell Vitality Assessment Using Magnetic Particle Spectroscopy

In the field of regenerative medicine, we focus on repairing damaged tissue using appropriate cells for therapy that have healing capacities, such as human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Tissue healing using stem cells will only be possible if the cells can be homed to their target. Beside cell homing at the targeted organ, assessing the cell vitality is of paramount interest during the healing process. To guarantee cell homing, hMSCs have to be labeled for long-term, noninvasive cell monitoring. Cell homing of labeled cells with iron oxide nanoparticles can be tracked with various methods like magnetic particle imaging or magnetic resonance imaging. In this paper, we present our first results in monitoring the cell vitality in vitro based on magnetic particle spectroscopy findings.