FIG. 3.
Vascular smooth muscle cells labeled ex vivo with iron particles (Feridex i.v.; Bayer Healthcare, Leverkusen, Germany) and injected retrogradely into the anterior interventricular vein in a porcine model of myocardial infarction, 1 week after induction of myocardial infarction by a 45-min balloon occlusion in the midsegment of the left anterior descending coronary artery. T2*-weighted magnetic resonance imaging shows a dark shadow indicating accumulation of the cells at the border of the infarct zone (arrow). After Prussian blue staining, iron-labeled cells are visible on 4-μm sections from the myocardium, and the fact that the iron label is retained within the cytoplasm of the labeled cells can be interpreted as indicating that these cells are still intact and viable (lower panel). (Reproduced with permission of John Wiley and Sons, Inc. from ref. 9. © 2004.)