In vivo imaging of islet transplantation using PLGA nanoparticles containing iron oxide and indocyanine green.

PURPOSE: We determined whether poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles would be a useful reagent for the successful monitoring of isolated islets by magnetic resonance imaging and optical imaging systems, without clinically relevant toxicity in vitro or in vivo. METHODS: We used iron oxide for MR imaging and a cyanide dye approved by the Food and Drug Administration (indocyanine green) for optical imaging and estimated the in vivo detection of transplanted pancreatic islets. RESULTS: The poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles were associated with the islets in vitro and were successfully detected by 4.7 T (MR) and optical imaging, without other toxic effects. When labeled islets were transplanted under the mouse kidney capsule, in vivo T2/ T2*-weighted scans with 4.7 T MR detected as few as 300 labeled islets by 4 weeks. Optical in vivo imaging revealed indocyanine green fluorescence by 2 and 4 days after transplantation of islets containing 250 and 500 µg/mL poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles, respectively. These results were further supported by the immunohistochemical results for insulin and iron in the recipient mouse kidney and pancreas. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these data indicate that poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles may be used to label transplanted islets and may be imaged with in vivo MR and optical imaging systems.

Development of a rapid, immunochromatographic strip test for serum asialo alpha1-acid glycoprotein in patients with hepatic disease.

Serum asialoglycoprotein (desialylated glycoproteins) concentrations have been reported to be elevated in patients with hepatic disease as compared with that of normal subjects. We recently developed a solid-phase sandwich assay for asialo alpha1-acid glycoprotein (AsAGP) as a representative of the serum asialoglycoproteins and evaluated the utility of this AsAGP as a diagnostic marker for liver cirrhosis (LC) and/or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we developed a rapid, one-step immunochromatographic strip capable of specifically detecting AsAGP in serum specimens. We have produced a monoclonal antibody (mAb) to AGP, and based on ELISA and Western blot analysis, we have selected four hybridoma clones which generated mAbs to recognize AsAGP. In the immunochromatographic strip test, one mAb was used for conjugation with colloidal gold microparticles. Ricinus communis agglutinin (RCA) was immobilized onto a nitrocellulose membrane strip to form a result line in the path of chromatographic migration. Likewise, a control line was created above the result line by the immobilization of anti-mouse IgG. A serum specimen was then applied to the sample pad. The AsAGP in the sample specifically bound to the microparticles via mAb (As16.89) and co-migrated upward until the AsAGP was sandwiched with the immobilized lectin (RCA), revealing a visible result line. The colloidal gold microparticles without bound AsAGP continued to migrate, forming a visible control line. Thus, an AsAGP-positive specimen (>1.5 microg/mL) yielded a result line and a control line, whereas an AsAGP-negative specimen (<1.5 microg/mL) produced only a single control line. The entire test procedure was completed in less than 5 min. In order to examine the reliability of the testing procedures, we carried out the immunochromatographic strip test with 102 serum samples and compared the results of these tests with those obtained by ELISA. The two methods showed excellent correlation, with 83-100% above/below the cut-off value (1.5 microg/mL). Therefore, we concluded that the results of the immunochromatographic test are in excellent accordance with those of the sandwich ELISA.

Liposome-encapsulated CpG enhances antitumor activity accompanying the changing of lymphocyte populations in tumor via intratumoral administration.

Although oligodeoxynucleotides containing CpG motifs (CpG-ODN) are potent immune stimulators, the use of natural CpG-ODN--phosphodiester-backbone CpG--has been limited due to its instability by nuclease in vivo. The aim of this study is to investigate the anticancer efficiency of CpG-ODN capsulated using liposome, which enhances the stability of CpG-ODN. We formulated lipoplex, encapsulated natural CpG-ODN from Mycobacterium bovis with liposome, and tested its immune stimulatory activity in vitro and in vivo. The lipoplex induced a systemic innate immune response in vivo and stimulated dendritic cells, but not macrophages, to stimulate proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6 in vitro. As expected, the lipoplex effectively mediated the prolonged cancer-therapeutic activity against B16 melanoma, which was dependent on natural killer and CD8(+) T cells. The therapeutic activity was observed after only intratumoral administration of lipoplex among several treatment routes. Intratumoral treatment of lipoplex significantly increased the populations of natural killer and CD8(+) T cells and reduced regulatory CD4(+) T cell recruitment, which was correlated with expression profiles of chemokines (CCL1, CCL3, CXCL1, CXCL10, and CCL22). The antitumor therapeutic effect of lipoplex was dependent on the altered lymphocyte population that might be developed by the profile of intratumoral chemokine expression.

Ultra-fast simultaneous detection of obesity-related coenzymes in mice using microchip electrophoresis with a LIF detector.

Hepatic acyl-coenzyme A synthetase (ACS), carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I (CPT-I) and acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC) are coenzymes associated with the genetic type of obesity in animal models. This paper reports the use of microchip electrophoresis (ME) with a laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detector based on a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect the amplified DNA fragments of these coenzymes (ACS, CPT-I and ACC) in the mRNA extracted from mice. DNA fragments ranging from 50 to 2652 bp were well resolved using this procedure with a running buffer (1x TBE), 0.5% polyvinylpyrrolidone (M(r) 1,000,000) as the coating gel and 0.7% polyethyleneoxide (M(r) 8,000,000) as the sieving gel at pH 8.30. The separation of the three RT-PCR products was achieved by ME in a single-run within 17 s using programmed field strength gradients (PFSG) (470 V cm(-1) for 9 s, 205.8 V cm(-1) for 2 s, 411.6 V cm(-1) for 4 s, 117.6 V cm(-1) for 2 s and 470.4V cm(-1) for 8 s). The ME-PFSG method was found to be 4 times faster than the method using a constant field and 138 times faster than slab gel electrophoresis. Moreover, the amplified RT-PCR products of the obesity-related coenzymes in C57BL/6J mice were analyzed using only sub-micro liter samples.