Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were incubated with large unilamellar vesicles (LUV) containing encapsulated dextran-magnetite particles (DMP). This resulted in an efficient incorporation of DMP. Electron microscopy revealed the presence of DMP in cells mainly in phagosomes and secondary lysosomes. DMP-labeled PBMCs showed a strong increase of the transverse relaxation rate (up to 16.6 s-1 for 5 x 10(7) cells/ml) and, accordingly, a great loss of signal intensity in MR imaging. The fraction of DMP containing PBMCs could be enriched by magnetic cell separation. The major population of the DMP containing cells proved to be monocytes. When PBMCs depleted of monocytes were used for labeling, DMP uptake was observed also in the peripheral blood lymphocytes. The labeling of PBMCs presented here may be used in future studies of selective MR imaging of in vivo cell migration in a variety of immunologically compromised tissue states, e.g., tumors, transplantations, and abscesses.

Omitting arm raising results in lower but acceptable image quality and a substantially higher effective radiation dose. Hence, effort should be made to position the arms above the shoulder when scanning trauma patients. Clinical trial registration no. NCT00228111.

Human lymphocytes were labeled with biotinylated anti-lymphocyte-directed monoclonal antibodies, to which streptavidin and subsequently biotinylated dextran-magnetite particles were coupled. This labeling resulted in a strong and selective negative contrast enhancement of lymphocyte suspensions at 2.0 T, caused predominantly by the specific increase of R2 with a small but significant specific increase of R1. The R1 was found to decrease with increasing field strength. The immunolabeling procedure described here may be used for the selective signal depletion of target cells in MR imaging.

Proton relaxation times T1 and T2 of macromolecular solutions, bovine brain tissues, and experimental cat brain edema tissues were studied as a function of water concentration, protein concentration, and temperature. A linear relation was found between the inverse of the weight fraction of tissue water and the spin-lattice relaxation rate, R1, based on a fast proton exchange model for relaxation. This correlation was also found for the spin-spin relaxation rate, R2, of gray matter samples and macromolecular solutions at low concentrations. Concentrated solutions of protein-water samples showed an enhanced relaxation due to viscosity effects. The T2 of white matter was considerably lengthened with elevated water concentration, but showed no straightforward relation with the total tissue water content. The relaxation times of all samples increased with temperature, supporting the assumption of fast proton exchange in the model for relaxation. This was not found for white matter, in which T2 decreased with increasing temperature, which indicated that intermediate or even slow exchange was present. The relation found between relaxation times and tissue water content can be used to predict the amount of and/or increase in tissue water due to water-elevating processes such as edema.

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