SWIR Fluorescence Imaging In Vivo Monitoring and Evaluating Implanted M2 Macrophages in Skeletal Muscle Regeneration
Mo Chen,
Yuzhou Chen,
Sijia Feng,
Shixian Dong,
Luyi Sun,
Huizhu Li,
Fuchun Chen,
Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh,
Yunxia Li,
Shiyi Chen,
You Wang,
Jun Chen
Affiliations
Mo Chen
Sports Medicine Institute of Fudan University, Department of Sports Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China; Department of Bone and Joint Surgery, Department of Orthopedics, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, China
Yuzhou Chen
Sports Medicine Institute of Fudan University, Department of Sports Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Sijia Feng
Sports Medicine Institute of Fudan University, Department of Sports Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Shixian Dong
Department of Anatomy and Physiology, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200025, China
Luyi Sun
Sports Medicine Institute of Fudan University, Department of Sports Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Huizhu Li
Sports Medicine Institute of Fudan University, Department of Sports Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Fuchun Chen
Key Laboratory of Infrared System Detection & Imaging Technology, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200083, China
Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh
Biophysics Group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK; Healthcare Biomagnetics and Nanomaterials Laboratories, University College London, London W1S 4BS, UK
Yunxia Li
Sports Medicine Institute of Fudan University, Department of Sports Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Shiyi Chen
Sports Medicine Institute of Fudan University, Department of Sports Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
You Wang
Department of Bone and Joint Surgery, Department of Orthopedics, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, China; Corresponding authors.
Jun Chen
Sports Medicine Institute of Fudan University, Department of Sports Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China; Corresponding authors.
Skeletal muscle has a robust regeneration ability that is impaired by severe injury, disease, and aging, resulting in a decline in skeletal muscle function. Therefore, improving skeletal muscle regeneration is a key challenge in treating skeletal muscle-related disorders. Owing to their significant role in tissue regeneration, implantation of M2 macrophages (M2Mø) has great potential for improving skeletal muscle regeneration. Here, we present a short-wave infrared (SWIR) fluorescence imaging technique to obtain more in vivo information for an in-depth evaluation of the skeletal muscle regeneration effect after M2Mø transplantation. SWIR fluorescence imaging was employed to track implanted M2Mø in the injured skeletal muscle of mouse models. It is found that the implanted M2Mø accumulated at the injury site for two weeks. Then, SWIR fluorescence imaging of blood vessels showed that M2Mø implantation could improve the relative perfusion ratio on day 5 (1.09 ± 0.09 vs 0.85 ± 0.05; p = 0.01) and day 9 (1.38 ± 0.16 vs 0.95 ± 0.03; p = 0.01) post-injury, as well as augment the degree of skeletal muscle regeneration on day 13 post-injury. Finally, multiple linear regression analyses determined that post-injury time and relative perfusion ratio could be used as predictive indicators to evaluate skeletal muscle regeneration. These results provide more in vivo details about M2Mø in skeletal muscle regeneration and confirm that M2Mø could promote angiogenesis and improve the degree of skeletal muscle repair, which will guide the research and development of M2Mø implantation to improve skeletal muscle regeneration.
