OBJECTIVE: To observe the ultrastructure of the blood-brain barrier in a lung cancer brain metastasis model in nude mice with a lanthanum nitrate tracer electron microscope.
Methods: 6 BALB/c nude mice were randomly selected from 8 BALB/c nude mice, injected into the left ventricle, PC-9 (1×106/0.1mL) was proliferated in the logarithmic growth phase, and human lung adenocarcinoma was inoculated cell. Phase as the model group; the other two nude mice were treated as the blank group without treatment. After inoculation, observe the status of the nude mice. At the 4th week, the ultrastructure of the blood-brain barrier was observed with a lantern-tracing electron microscope, and the lungs and brain organs were collected for HE pathological staining.
Result: The nude mice in the model group began to lose weight at the 3rd week and gradually developed cachexia. I executed all the nude mice in the 4th week. No metastases were found in the chest, lungs, brain or organs when the naked eye was taken. HE staining showed that nude mice in the model group had multiple brain metastases of different sizes. In the model group, the lanthanum nitrate tracer electron microscope showed that the lanthanum nitrate particles invaded the outside of the vascular cavity and were sparsely or dispersedly distributed in the brain tissue, while the lanthanum nitrate particles in the blank group were only distributed in the vascular cavity and proved to be deposited.
Conclusion: The diffuse and distributed lantern-shaped particles indicate that the blood-brain barrier structure of this model is defective, and the development of lung cancer brain metastasis is accompanied by the destruction of the blood-brain barrier structure.