Subcutaneous administration of D-luciferin is an effective alternative to intraperitoneal injection in bioluminescence imaging of xenograft tumors in nude mice.
Currently, intraperitoneal (IP) injection of D-luciferin is the preferred method of providing substrate for bioluminescent imaging (BLI); however it has a failure rate of 3-10% due to accidental intestinal injection. The present study evaluates the quality of BLI after subcutaneous (SC) injection of D-luciferin and demonstrates the effectiveness of SC injection in anatomically disparate tumor models. Mice bearing luciferase-expressing tumors underwent BLI after SC or IP injection of D-luciferin. The average time to maximal luminescence was 6 min (range 5-9 min) after SC injection and 8 min (range 5-8 min) after IP injection. Within 7 minutes of injection, SC and IP routes yielded similar luminescence in subcutaneous, intracranial, tongue, and lung xenograft tumor models. In a model of combined subcutaneous and intracranial xenografts, SC injection resulted in proportional luminescence at all sites, confirming that preferential delivery of substrate does not occur. While tumors were occasionally not visualized with IP injection, all tumors were visualized reliably with SC injection. Thus, SC injection of D-luciferin is a convenient and effective alternative to IP injection for BLI in nude mice. It may be a preferable approach, particularly for tumors with weaker signals and/or when greater precision is required.
Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of Virginia Health System, P.O BOX 800713 Charlottesville, VA 22908-0713, USA ; Department of Biochemistry, National Liver Institute, Menoufiya University, Shebin Elkom 32511, Egypt.
Ashraf A
AA
Khalil
Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of Virginia Health System, P.O BOX 800713 Charlottesville, VA 22908-0713, USA.
Mark J
MJ
Jameson
Department of Neurosurgery, Richmond, VA 23298, USA.
William C
WC
Broaddus
Department of Radiation Oncology, Georgia Health University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA.
Theodore D
TD
Chung
Department of Radiation Oncology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298, USA.
Sarah E
SE
Golding
Department of Radiation Oncology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298, USA.
Seth M
SM
Dever
Department of Radiation Oncology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298, USA.
Elisabeth
E
Rosenberg
Department of Radiation Oncology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298, USA.
Kristoffer
K
Valerie
D-luciferin; bioluminescence