title: Automated measurement of microcirculatory blood flow velocity in pulmonary metastases of rats.
abstract: Because the lung is a major target organ of metastatic disease, animal models to study the physiology of pulmonary metastases are of great importance. However, very few methods exist to date to investigate lung metastases in a dynamic fashion at the microcirculatory level, due to the difficulty to access the lung with a microscope. Here, an intravital microscopy method is presented to functionally image and quantify the microcirculation of superficial pulmonary metastases in rats, using a closed-chest pulmonary window and automated analysis of blood flow velocity and direction. The utility of this method is demonstrated to measure increases in blood flow velocity in response to pharmacological intervention, and to image the well-known tortuous vasculature of solid tumors. This is the first demonstration of intravital microscopy on pulmonary metastases in a closed-chest model. Because of its minimized invasiveness, as well as due to its relative ease and practicality, this technology has the potential to experience widespread use in laboratories that specialize on pulmonary tumor research.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic, Maxillofacial, and Oral Surgery, Duke University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Blueschke
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Gabi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hanna
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Andrew N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Fontanella
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Gregory M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Alina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boico
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Hooney
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Min
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Dewhirst
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University of Colorado Denver.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Irwin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Yulin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Mainz; thschroe@uni-mainz.de.
authors.forename: Thies
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schroeder
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D064593:Heterografts; D006801:Humans; D000069416:Intravital Microscopy / Q000379:methods; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000556:secondary*; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000502:physiology; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D011923:Rats, Nude; D012513:Sarcoma, Experimental / Q000473:pathology