title: Vascularity and perfusion of human gliomas xenografted in the athymic nude mouse.
abstract: The vascularisation and perfusion of seven subcutaneously xenografted human glioma lines established from surgical specimens has been analysed using an anti-collagen type IV antibody to visualise the vascular walls in combination with a perfusion marker (Hoechst 33342). A computer-based digital image processing system was employed for quantitative analysis of the parameters. The vascular architecture of individual tumours belonging to the same tumour line showed a consistent similarity, while substantial differences occurred between the various tumour lines derived from different patients. Despite the presence of a large inter-tumour variation in vascular area as a proportion of the tumour area, this vascular parameter clearly showed tumour line-specific characteristics. The perfused fraction of the tumour vessels also showed a large inter-tumour variation for all tumour lines ranging from 20% to 85%, but the majority of tumours of all lines had perfusion fractions of more than 55%. Despite large variation, the perfused vascular area as a proportion of the tumour cross-sectional area exhibited clear tumour line-specific tendencies. These observations suggest that consistent differences in vascular parameters are present between glioma xenograft lines, although the tumour lines all originated from histologically similar human high-grade gliomas. These differences may have important consequences for treatment and clinical behaviour of this type of tumour.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiotherapy, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Bernsen
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Rijken
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oostendorp
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van der Kogel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008875:Middle Aged; D008938:Mitosis; D010477:Perfusion; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured