Magnetically Labeled iPSC-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Enable MRI/MPI-Guided Regenerative Therapy for Myocardial Infarction

Stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) offer a promising cell-free approach for cardiovascular regenerative medicine. In this study, we developed magnetically labeled induced pluripotent stem cell-derived EVs (magneto-iPSC-EVs) encapsulated with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles for image-guided regenerative treatment of myocardial infarction, in which EVs that can be detected by both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic particle imaging (MPI). iPSC-EVs were isolated, characterized per MISEV2023 guidelines, and loaded with SuperSPIO20 nanoparticles using optimized electroporation conditions (300 V, 2 × 10 ms pulses), achieving a high loading efficiency of 1.77 ng Fe/10 ⁶ EVs. In vitro results show that magneto-iPSC-EVs can be sensitively detected by MPI and MRI, with a detectability of approximately 10 ⁷ EVs. In a mouse myocardial ischemia-reperfusion model, intramyocardially injected magneto-iPSC-EVs (2 × 10 ⁹ ) were imaged non-invasively by in vivo MPI for 7 days and ex vivo MRI, with the presence of magneto-iPSC-EVs confirmed by Prussian blue staining. Therapeutically, both native and magneto-iPSC-EVs significantly improved cardiac function, with a 37.3% increase in left ventricular ejection fraction and 61.0% reduction in scar size. This study highlights the potential of magneto-iPSC-EVs as a cell-free approach for cardiovascular regenerative medicine, offering both non-invasive imaging capabilities and therapeutic benefits for myocardial repair.