【Animal modeling】-animal model of lung adenocarcinoma brain metastasis

  Objective: To establish an animal model of lung cancer brain metastasis using luc+-PC-9 human lung adenocarcinoma cells stably expressing luciferase, and to compare bioluminescence imaging and 18F-FDG (18F-fluorodeoxyglucose, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose) SPECT/CT Evaluation role in lung cancer metastasis model.

  Methods: The luc+-PC-9 cell suspension was injected through the left ventricle into BALB/c nude mice to establish a lung cancer brain metastasis model. Bioluminescence imaging and 18F-FDG SPECT/CT were performed at the 4th and 5th weeks to observe the tumor formation in nude mice. In this case, the pathological results of H&E staining were used as the gold standard to compare the effects of the two methods in lung cancer metastasis models.

  Result: A lung cancer brain metastasis model was established by injecting luc+-PC-9 cells into the left ventricle, and the success rate of brain metastasis was 85%. The number of tumor cells is positively correlated with the luminescence intensity, and has a good linear relationship (R2=0.96). Bioluminescence imaging can observe fluorescence signals in the brain, spine and femur, and the pathological results confirm that it is a metastasis. 18F-FDG SPECT/CT showed no obvious metabolic concentration in the brain tissue, and metabolic concentration in the femur or spine, and pathologically confirmed bone marrow metastasis.

  Conclusion: Left ventricular injection is a reliable method to establish a brain metastasis model of human lung adenocarcinoma. The bioluminescence imaging system has high sensitivity and specificity in detecting brain metastases and bone metastases, and can realize real-time, dynamic and non-invasive observation of the growth of metastases; 18F-FDG SPECT/CT has no advantage in detecting brain metastases. It is more suitable for detecting bone metastases.