Ferumoxytol nanoparticle uptake in brain during acute neuroinflammation is cell-specific

Ferumoxytol ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can enhance contrast between neuroinflamed and normal-appearing brain tissue when used as a contrast agent for high-sensitivity magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Here we used an anti-dextran antibody (Dx1) that binds the nanoparticle's carboxymethyldextran coating to differentiate ferumoxytol from endogenous iron and localize it unequivocally in brain tissue. Intravenous injection of ferumoxytol into immune-competent rats that harbored human tumor xenograft-induced inflammatory brain lesions resulted in heterogeneous and lesion-specific signal enhancement on MRI scans in vivo. We used Dx1 immunolocalization and electron microscopy to identify ferumoxytol in affected tissue post-MRI. We found that ferumoxytol nanoparticles were taken up by astrocyte endfeet surrounding cerebral vessels, astrocyte processes, and CD163⁺/CD68⁺ macrophages, but not by tumor cells. These results provide a biological basis for the delayed imaging changes seen with ferumoxytol and indicate that ferumoxytol-MRI can be used to assess the inflammatory component of brain lesions in the clinic.