MIBE Seminar: Noninvasive Detection of Cell Death with Filter-Exchange Magnetic Resonance Imaging from in vitro to in vivo.

Topic: Noninvasive Detection of Cell Death with Filter-Exchange Magnetic Resonance Imaging from in vitro to in vivo.

Speaker: Athanasia Kaika, Doctoral Candidate (Schilling Group)

Date and Time: Tuesday, 06 December 2022, 1:00 pm

Abstract: During cancer therapy, cells can undergo a spectrum of forms of cell death, from apoptosis to necrosis, producing plasma membrane structural changes and intracellular metabolic changes. Characterizing and quantifying these changes are important methods for research and clinical treatment monitoring. In this work, changes of cellular transmembrane water permeability were probed in vivo and in vitro using magnetic resonance filter-exchange spectroscopy (FEXSY) and imaging (FEXI) and quantified as the apparent exchange rate (AXR), along with the associated apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), which is sensitive to complete cellular breakdown. Cellular structural changes were also visualized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) histology, and the fluorescence markers Annexin V/PI. Intracellular fumarate to malate conversion after mitochondrial breakdown and release of the enzyme fumarase was probed in vivo using hyperpolarized 13C-malate/fumarate imaging. The goal of this work was to monitor in vitro and in vivo AXR change in a 7T preclinical MRI scanner to compare with the other established markers of cell death. FEXSY, FEXI, and 13Cmalate/fumarate imaging results at 7T will be presented, with AXR correlated to ADC and the malate-fumerate ratio, as well as SEM and fluorescence imaging results. Additionally, preliminary results from FEXI on a clinical 3T MRI scanner will be presented.