Implantation and Evaluation of Melanoma in the Murine Choroid via Optical Coherence Tomography

Summary

The present protocol describes the implantation and evaluation of melanoma in the murine choroid utilizing optical coherence tomography.

Abstract

Establishing experimental choroidal melanoma models is challenging in terms of the ability to induce tumors at the correct localization. In addition, difficulties in observing posterior choroidal melanoma in vivo limit tumor location and growth evaluation in real-time. The approach described here optimizes techniques for establishing choroidal melanoma in mice via a multi-step sub-choroidal B16LS9 cell injection procedure. To enable precision in injecting into the small dimensions of the mouse uvea, the complete procedure is performed under a microscope. First, a conjunctival peritomy is formed in the dorsal-temporal area of the eye. Then, a tract into the sub-choroidal space is created by inserting a needle through the exposed sclera. This is followed by the insertion of a blunt needle into the tract and the injection of melanoma cells into the choroid. Immediately after injection, noninvasive optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging is utilized to determine tumor location and progress. Retinal detachment is evaluated as a predictor of tumor site and size. The presented method enables the reproducible induction of choroid-localized melanoma in mice and the live imaging of tumor growth evaluation. As such, it provides a valuable tool for studying intraocular tumors.

Introduction

Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most frequent intraocular primary malignancy in adults. Approximately 90% of ocular melanomas originate from melanocytes in the choroid region of the uveal tract¹. UM is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, as it is estimated that close to 50% of patients develop metastatic disease, with the liver being the major site of metastasis². Early treatment of primary lesions may reduce the chance of metastases, yet no effective treatment prevents metastases formation³.

The standard treatment of uveal melanoma includes irradiation therapy, which ....

Protocol

The experiments in the protocol were approved by the Israeli National Council on Animal Experimentation and comply with the ARVO Statement for using Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research. Female C57BL/6 mice, aged 8-10 weeks, were used for the present study and were exposed to 12/12 h light-dark cycles. The animals were obtained from a commercial source (see Table of Materials).

1. Cell culture

1. Culture B16LS9 cells in RPMI 1640 medium, suppleme.......

Discussion

Uveal melanoma is a devastating disease for which novel therapeutic approaches are greatly needed. However, research on uveal melanoma and potential treatments is limited by the technical challenges of uveal melanoma animal models^1,25. Ocular tumors, which are induced by intraocular injection of cancer cells, are highly variable in both localization and size, likely due to the small dimensions of the mouse eye. Such variability is an obstacle to the comprehensive.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
10 μL glass syringe (Hamilton Co., Bonaduz, Switzerland)	Hamilton	721711
30 G needles	BD Microbalance	2025-01
Atipamezole hydrochloride	Orion Phrma
B16LS9 cells	from Hans Grossniklaus USA
Buprenorphine	richter pharma	102047
C57BL/6 female mice	Envigo
Essential vitamin mixture	satorius	01-025-1A
Fetal bovine serum	rhenium	10270106
HEPES	satorius	03-025-1B
Hydroxyethylcellulose 1.4% eye drops	Fisher Pharmaceutical	390862
InSight OCT segmentation software	Phoenix Micron, Inc
Ketamine	bremer pharma GMBH (medimarket)	17889
L-glutamine	satorius	03-020-1B
Medetomidine	zoetis (vetmarket)	102532
Ofloxacin 0.3% eye drops	allergan	E92170
Optical coherence tomography	Phoenix Micron, Inc
Oxybuprocaine 0.4%	Fisher Pharmaceutical	393050
Penicillin-streptomycin-amphoteracin	satorius	03-033-1B
Phosphate buffered saline (PBS)	satorius	02-023-1a
RPMI cell media	satorius	01-104-1A
Sodium pyruvate	satorius	03-042-1B
Surgical microscope	Zeiss	OPMI-6 CFC
Tropicamide 0.5%	Fisher Pharmaceutical	390723