The recovery of myocardial blood flow is a major indicator of the effectiveness of cell-based therapies for ischemic heart diseases including myocardial infarction. Blood flow (also called perfusion) of the heart muscle can be noninvasively measured via imaging methods such as ultra ...

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) are investigated as a source of authentic human cardiac cells for drug discovery and toxicological tests. Cell-based assays using automated fluorescence imaging platform and high-content analysis characterize hypertrophic and toxicity p ...

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are unipotent cells committed to germ lineage: PGCs can only differentiate into gametes in vivo. However, upon fertilization, germ cells acquire the capacity to differentiate into all cell types in the body, including germ cells. Therefore, germ cells are thoug ...

Micro-CT offers high spatial resolution of the distribution of stem cells and provides rapid reconstruction of 3D images and quantitative volumetric analysis. Together with real-time PCR analysis, micro-CT offers the possibility to obtain a quantification of the number of cells that ...

Adult neural stem cells (NSC) generate neurons throughout life, but little is known about the sequence of events involved in the transition from NSC to neurons. Studying the intermediary steps involved in the specification of neuronal cells from NSCs requires observation of cells in real ti ...

The recently developed near-infrared (NIR) light imaging technology combines low background noise with deep tissue penetration and readily allows imaging and tracking of NIR-labeled cells, following transplantation in small animal model of diseases. The real-time and longitu ...

Live imaging is a powerful approach to understanding the dynamic processes that occur during development. Periimplantation mouse embryos are transparent, making them suitable for live imaging. In this chapter we describe the culturing and live imaging of mouse embryos, and also intro ...

Advances in optical imaging technologies combined with the use of genetically encoded fluorescent proteins have enabled the visualization of stem cells over extensive periods of time in vivo and ex vivo. The generation of genetically encoded fluorescent protein reporters that are f ...

DNA methylation and histone modifications are key regulatory mechanisms in cellular differentiation, and are skewed in complex diseases. Therefore, analyzing the higher nuclear organization of methylated DNA in conjunction with relevant cellular components, such as protein ...

Stem cell transplantation in the central nervous system (CNS) is currently under intensive investigation as a novel therapeutic approach for a variety of brain disorders and/or injuries. However, one of the main hurdles at the moment is the lack of standardized procedures to evaluate cell gr ...

To date, several stem cell labeling protocols have been developed, contributing to a fast growing and promising field of stem cell imaging by MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Most of these methods utilize iron oxide nanoparticles (MION, SPIO, USPIO, VSIOP) for cell labeling, which provide n ...

Myocardial infarction is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, and current treatments fail to address the underlying scarring and cell loss, which is a major cause of heart failure after infarction. The novel strategy, therapeutic angiogenesis and/or vasculogenesis ...

Transplantation of stem cells represents a promising approach for the therapy of different brain diseases, including stroke, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease. Tracking of stem cells with noninvasive imaging technologies provides insight into location, migration, and pr ...

Methods to monitor transplanted stem cells in vivo are of great importance for potential therapeutic applications. Of particular interest are methods allowing noninvasive detection of stem cells throughout the body. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a tool that would allow detec ...

Bioaffinity immobilization exploits the affinity of the enzyme to a macro-(affinity ligand). Such a macro-(affinity ligand) could be a lectin, a water-soluble polymer, or a bioconjugate of a water-soluble polymer and the appropriate affinity ligand. Successive layering of the enzyme and ...

A simple immobilization method for Candida rugosa lipase on superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles is described. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles were coated with PEI and Candida rugosa lipase was adsorbed on these particles via electrostatic interactions. The immobilization resul ...

This enzyme immobilization approach involves the formation of disulfide (−S–S–) bonds with the support. Thus, enzymes bearing exposed nonessential thiol (SH) groups can be immobilized onto thiol-reactive supports provided with reactive disulfides or disulfide oxides under mild ...

Novel heterofunctional glyoxyl-agarose supports were prepared. These supports contained the maximal concentration of glyoxyl groups to promote maximization of covalent immobilization and groups’ capability to adsorb proteins by various mechanisms (e.g., ionic exchang ...

Stabilization of enzymes via immobilization techniques is a valuable approach in order to convert a necessary protocol (immobilization) into a very interesting tool to improve key enzyme properties (stabilization). Multipoint covalent attachment of each immobilized enzyme ...

The immobilization of proteins on epoxy activated supports is discussed in this chapter. Immobilization on epoxy supports is carried out as a two-step mechanism: in the first step the adsorption of the protein is promoted and in the second step the intramolecular covalent linkage among epoxy ...