HRMAS 1H-NMR measured changes of the metabolite profile as mesenchymal stem cells differentiate to targeted fat cells in vitro: implications for non-invasive monitoring of stem cell differentiation in vivo

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown a great potential for clinical applications in regenerative medicine. However, it remains challenging to follow the transplanted cell grafts in vivo. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR or MRS) is capable of determining and quantifying the cellular metabolites in tissue and organs non-invasively, therefore it is an attractive method for monitoring and evaluating the differentiation and functions of transplanted stem cells in vivo. In this study, metabolic changes of MSCs undergoing adipogenic differentiation to targeted fat cells were investigated in vitro, using solid-state high-resolution magic angle spinning H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Quantification of metabolite concentrations before and after differentiation of MSCs showed decreased levels of intracellular metabolites, including choline, creatine, glutamate and myo-inositol, and a substantially increased level of fatty acids, when mesenchyrnal stem cells were differentiated preferentially to fat cells. Intracellular creatine, myo-inositol and choline reduced from 10.4 +/- 0.72, 16.2 +/- 1.2 and 8.22 +/- 0.51 mM to 3.27 +/- 0.34, 6.1 +/- 0.46 and 3.11 +/- 0.32 mM, respectively, while fatty acids increased from 32.6 +/- 1.5 to 91.2 +/- 3.2 mM after undergoing 3 weeks of differentiation. The increase of the fatty acid concentration measured by NMR is confirmed by the observation of 80% fat cells in differentiated cells by cell counting assay, suggesting resonances from fatty acids may be used as metabolite markers for monitoring MSC differentiation to fat cells in vivo, using the magnetic resonance spectroscopic technique readily available on MRI scanners. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.