Figure 5

Metastasis of 66c14 luc2, 4 T1.2 luc3, and 4 T1 luc2 cells in vivo . Representative (A) whole animal and (B) ex vivo organs from mice injected with the 66c14 luc2 (left), 4 T1.2 luc3 (middle), or commercially available 4 T1 luc2 (right) cells, 4–5 weeks after injection are shown. Primary tumor bioluminescence intensities were visualized in animals injected with all cell types in both dorsal and ventral views. Bioluminescence was also detectable in the thoracic region of the 66c14 luc2 and 4 T1.2 luc3 animals correlating with ex vivo bioluminescence from metastatic lesions detected in lung and spine. No bioluminescence representing metastatic lesions was detected in mice injected with 4 T1 luc2 cells. The bioluminescence intensity of the primary tumor from the 4 T1 luc2 mouse represented was very high and likely prohibited secondary sites of metastasis from being visualized. The BLI scale next to the whole body image of the 4 T1 luc2 injected mouse (highlighted in red) reflects this difference. All other images (highlighted in yellow) are presented with a consistent BLI scale. Overall, the 4 T1.2 luc3 cells showed the highest levels of BLI from metastases both in vivo and ex-vivo.