OBJECTIVE: Aging is a pressing global challenge requiring urgent solutions, and the anti-aging potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has drawn global attention. This study treated aged macaques with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) and aimed to establish a non-invasive, reliable, specific, and reproducible imaging method for evaluating BMMSCs' therapeutic effects by combining 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging with texture analysis and Statistical Parametric Mapping 8. 0 (SPM8. 0). METHODS: Sixteen healthy female macaques were split into three age groups: juvenile, young, and elderly. Baseline 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging was conducted, and only the elderly group received BMMSC transplantation. Brain PET/CT scans were repeated 3 and 6 months post-treatment. PET data were processed using PET Vcar (for metabolic analysis), LIFEx (for texture feature extraction), and SPM8. 0 (for pixel-wise statistical mapping). RESULTS: The elderly group had a higher metabolic volume (MTV) than the juvenile group, which declined after BMMSC treatment. However, no significant differences in SUVmax, SUVmean, or TLG were found in the elderly group post-treatment. Texture analysis identified SHAPESurface and GLZLMLZLGE as strong classification markers, with ROC curve AUC values of 0. 833 and 0. 75, respectively. SPM 8. 0 analysis showed BMMSCs improved glucose metabolism in the entorhinal and auditory cortices of aged macaques. CONCLUSIONS: BMMSC treatment improved glucose metabolism in specific functional brain regions (auditory processing, motor ability, cognitive memory, vision, taste, and reproductive systems) of aged macaques. 18F-FDG PET/CT plus texture analysis and SPM8. 0 is a credible, accurate quantitative methods for assessing BMMSC efficacy.
Li et al. (Mon,) studied this question.