Intracardiac/Intra-Arterial Metastasis Xenograft

  • Principle
  • Experimental Materials
  • Experimental Procedure

Materials Required

• PBS Buffer/Power

Principle

Intracardiac xenograft metastasis models are based on the direct delivery of fluorescent or bioluminescent tumor cells into the left ventricle of immunocompromised mice, allowing systemic arterial dissemination that mimics hematogenous spread and enables colonization of distant organs such as bone, brain, and lung. Real-time bioluminescence imaging (BLI) is used to non-invasively track tumor cell seeding, survival, and metastatic outgrowth over time, reflecting early arrest in capillary beds followed by organ-specific colonization and proliferation[1].

MCE has not independently verified the accuracy of these methods. They are for reference only.

Experimental Materials

Reagents and chemicals

• Phosphate-buffered saline (PBS): used as the injection vehicle for tumor cell suspension[1].
• Anesthetic agents (e.g., inhalational anesthesia): used to immobilize mice during intracardiac injection and imaging procedures[1].

Antibodies, probes, dyes, or kits

• Luciferase reporter-expressing tumor cells: used for longitudinal in vivo bioluminescence imaging of metastatic burden[1].

Equipment and instruments

• Bioluminescence imaging system: used to detect and quantify metastatic tumor burden in live animals over time[1].
• Syringes with fine-gauge needles: used for precise intracardiac delivery into the left ventricle[1].

Experimental Procedure

Preparation Steps

• Tumor cells stably expressing luciferase are cultured under standard conditions and prepared as a single-cell suspension in sterile PBS prior to injection.
• Immunodeficient mice are prepared under anesthesia to ensure immobilization during intracardiac delivery, enabling accurate systemic arterial distribution of injected cells[1].

Operation Steps

• Under anesthesia, tumor cells are injected into the left ventricle to ensure immediate arterial dissemination rather than venous trapping.
• Correct intracardiac placement is essential for systemic distribution of tumor cells and is typically verified by rapid systemic signal appearance in bioluminescence imaging shortly after injection.
• Following injection, mice are monitored longitudinally using in vivo bioluminescence imaging to track metastatic seeding and progression across organs[1].

Data Acquisition and Analysis

• Metastatic burden is quantified using bioluminescence signal intensity measured at serial time points, enabling longitudinal assessment of tumor growth kinetics and organ-specific colonization patterns.
• Imaging data are compared across experimental groups to evaluate differences in metastatic efficiency, tumor cell dissemination, and growth dynamics, with each animal serving as a biological replicate[1].

Share