Purpose: Semi-quantitative, static positron emission tomography (PET) has been used to
perform an initial approach to the assessment of [13N]-ammonia perfusion studies aimed to
elucidating the effect of injecting human embryonic stem cell-derived (hES) hemanPurpose: Semi-quantitative, static positron emission tomography (PET) has been used to
perform an initial approach to the assessment of [13N]-ammonia perfusion studies aimed to
elucidating the effect of injecting human embryonic stem cell-derived (hES) hemangioblasts on
infarcted rat hearts.
Procedures: Female NIH nude rats underwent occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary
artery for 30 min before reperfusion. Either one million hES-derived hemangioblasts (n=5) or
control media (n=4) were injected into the site of the infarct 1 day post-myocardial infarction (MI)
under high-resolution echocardiography guidance. PET imaging was performed 6 weeks after
MI induction, and uptake polar maps were created by sampling the left ventricle at equidistant
slices from the base to the apex and measuring the average myocardium value at three
contiguous voxels to minimize partial volume effects. Statistical comparison between treatment
and control groups was done with a Mann–Whitney U test.
Results: Myocardium uptake ratios for treated and untreated subjects show statistically
significant difference (98% certainty).
Conclusions: The straightforward procedure described here (similar to those commonly used in
clinical routine) was sufficient to yield statistically significant perfusion differences between the
treated and untreated animals despite the small sample size.[+][-]
