Figure 6
A clinical 3 T MRI scanner detects 19F-PFC-labeled human PBMC. (a) A T1-weighted, coronal orientation MR image obtained using a body coil reveals human inguinal lymph nodes as dark spheres (blue arrows) within the fat of the upper thigh. The red dashed line indicates the location of the axial MRI slice (b). In the axial image, the position of the lymph node is measured to be approximately 1.5 cm below the skin (b, red scale bar). (c,d,e,f,g) PBMC were obtained from a healthy volunteer and labeled overnight with the 19F-PFC cell-labeling agent before injection into a ham shank. Imaging was performed by placing the 1H/19F switchable RF (c) coil on the ham shank as shown (d). Cells were administered intradermally with MR images shown for the, 20 × 106 (e, yellow arrow) and the 4.5 × 106 (f, yellow arrow) intradermal doses. An additional 4.5 × 106 dose was administered intramuscularly (f, yellow arrow), which is visible at a 1.2 cm depth as measured from the MR image. A representative human proton image taken with the same parameters closely resembles the ham images in both tissue appearance and subcutaneous fat deposition (g). Scale bars represent 6 cm.
