In this work we optimized a novel approach for combining in vivo MRI and ex vivo high-resolution fluorescence microscopy that involves: (i) a method for slicing rat brain tissue into sections with the same thickness and spatial orientation as in in vivo MRI, to better correlate in vivo MRI analyses with ex-vivo imaging via scanning confocal microscope and (ii) an improved clearing protocol compatible with lipophilic dyes that highlight the neurovascular network, to obtain high tissue transparency while preserving tissue staining and morphology with no significant tissue shrinkage or expansion. We applied this methodology in two rat models of glioblastoma (GBM; U87 human glioma cells and patient-derived human glioblastoma cancer stem cells) to demonstrate how vital the information retrieved from the correlation between MRI and confocal images is and to highlight how the increased invasiveness of xenografts derived from cancer stem cells may not be clearly detected by standard in vivo MRI approaches. The protocol studied in this work could be implemented in pre-clinical GBM research to further the development and validation of more predictive and translatable MR imaging protocols that can be used as critical diagnostic and prognostic tools. The development of this protocol is part of the quest for more efficacious treatment approaches for this devastating and still uncurable disease. In particular, this approach could be instrumental in validating novel MRI-based techniques to assess cellular infiltration beyond the macroscopic tumor margins and to quantify neo-angiogenesis.
Pubmed ID: 33087842 RIS Download
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Software package as distribution of ImageJ and ImageJ2 together with Java, Java3D and plugins organized into coherent menu structure. Used to assist research in life sciences.
View all literature mentionsA software application for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities such as it can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc. GIMP is expandable and extensible and designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.
View all literature mentionsAmerican chemical, life science and biotechnology company owned by Merck KGaA. Merger of Sigma Chemical Company and Aldrich Chemical Company. Provides organic and inorganic chemicals, building blocks, reagents, advanced materials and stable isotopes for chemical synthesis, medicinal chemistry and materials science, antibiotics, buffers, carbohydrates, enzymes, forensic tools, hematology and histology, nucleotides, proteins, peptides, amino acids and their derivatives.
View all literature mentionsCell line U-87MG ATCC is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
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