Non-invasive optical imaging of tumor growth in intact animals

We describe here a system for rapidly visualizing tumor growth in intact rodent mice that is simple, rapid, and eminently accessible and repeatable. We have established new rodent tumor cell line -- SP2/0-GFP cells that stably express high level of green fluorescent protein (GFP) by transfected with a plasmid that encoded GFP using electroporation and selected with G418 for 3 weeks. 1 x 104 - 1x107 SP2/0-GFP mouse melanoma cells were injected s.c. in the ears and legs of 6- to 7-week-old syngeneic male BALB/c mice, and optical images visualized real-time the engrafted tumor growth. The tumor burden was monitored over time by cryogenically cooled charge coupled device (CCD) camera focused through a stereo microscope. The results show that the fluorescence intensity of GFP-expressing tumor is comparably with the tumor growth and/or depress. This in vivo optical imaging based on GFP is sensitive, external, and noninvasive. It affords continuous visual monitoring of malignant growth within intact animals, and may comprise an ideal tool for evaluating antineoplastic therapies.

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