Fig. 1

Biodistribution of different cells following intravenous or intracardiac administration. a BLI immediately after administration, showing that cells were always confined within the lungs after intravenous (IV) administration, but distributed throughout the body after intracardiac (IC) administration; an exception was the macrophages which showed also a more posterior signal after IV administration. The diameter of each cell as estimated by the PCV is shown next to the images. Ex vivo bioluminescence imaging of organs within 1 h of administration of b mKSCs or c macrophages confirmed the in vivo cell biodistribution. Organs are indicated as the kidneys (k), spleen (s), liver (li), lungs (lu), heart (h) or brain (b), and the colour scale applies to both administration routes. Quantification of the bioluminescence signal intensity of organs ex vivo post d mKSC or e macrophage administration. Values represent the mean signal intensity measured in each organ and normalised to the total flux from all organs (n = 3 each group). Error bars represent standard error. f Mean pixel intensity of GNR-labelled macrophages measured via multispectral optoacoustic tomography for a period of 5 h post IV administration, displaying the kinetics of their accumulation in the spleen and liver. Arrow indicates the time point at which the cells were administered