Labeling of Collagen Type I Templates with a Naturally Derived Contrast Agent for Noninvasive MR Imaging in Soft Tissue Engineering

• DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201800605
• Publication Date: 2018-07-30T05:56:04Z
• Authors: Heinz P. Janke; Nihan Güvener; Weiqiang Dou; Dorien M. Tiemessen; Anglita YantiSeti...; Jozef G. O. Cremers; Paul J. A. Borm; Wout F. J. Feitz; Arend Heerschap; Fabian Kiessling; Egbert Oosterwijk
• Keywords: Radboudumc 10: Reconstructive and regenerative medicine RIMLS: Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences; 0301 basic medicine; Mice, Inbred BALB C; 0303 health sciences; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Radboudumc 15: Urological cancers RIMLS: Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences; Tissue Engineering; Tissue Scaffolds; Contrast Media; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Collagen Type I; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Phenotype; Medical Imaging - Radboud University Medical Center; Urology - Radboud University Medical Center; Animals; Female

AbstractIn vivo monitoring of tissue‐engineered constructs is important to assess their integrity, remodeling, and degradation. However, this is challenging when the contrast with neighboring tissues is low, necessitating labeling with contrast agents (CAs), but current CAs have limitations (i.e., toxicity, negative contrast, label instability, and/or inappropriate size). Therefore, a naturally derived hemin‐L‐lysine (HL) complex is used as a potential CA to label collagen‐based templates for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Labeling does not change the basic characteristics of the collagen templates. When hybrid templates composed of collagen type I reinforced with degradable polymers are subcutaneously implanted in mice, longitudinal visualization by MRI is possible with good contrast and in correlation with template remodeling. In contrast, unlabeled collagen templates are hardly detectable and the fate of these templates cannot be monitored by MRI. Interestingly, tissue remodeling and vascularization are enhanced within HL‐labeled templates. Thus, HL labeling is presented as a promising universal imaging marker to label tissue‐engineered implants for MRI, which additionally seems to accelerate tissue regeneration.