In vivo dynamic monitoring of the biological behavior of labeled C6 glioma by MRI.

Gliomas are the most common type of intracranial tumor and have the highest rate of mortality. The aims of this study were to investigate the long-term course and biological behavior of orthotopically implanted C6 gliomas and to dynamically monitor the distribution of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanocomposite-labeled C6 glioma cells in rats using 7.0T MRI. We observed that in the MRI of the rats implanted with SPIO-labeled cells, there were pronounced hypointense signal bands, which faded over time, but remained visible up to day 27 after implantation. We observed that the first tumors were detected as early as 2 days after implantation, presenting as slightly hyperintense regions with indefinite boundaries in the T1-weighted images (T1WIs). On the 9th day, thick tumor feeder vessels, ~0.2 mm in diameter, were observed and these increased rapidly over time. Edema was observed in the labeled and unlabeled groups in the T2WIs. Both the central hypointense signal area and the peripheral cogwheel-shaped hypointense signal band in the tumor were observed on the post-contrast T1WIs, in accordance with the necrosis observed in the photomicrographs following hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining. In conclusion, labeling tumor cells with SPIO and performing an MRI scan dynamically monitors the development and biological behavior of glioma at a very early stage.