Fig. 3
Fluorescence imaging of native cell death in the MCF10ADCIS model of human DCIS. Bioluminescence (BLI, A) and epifluorescence images (FLI; B, C) of a representative mouse implanted intraductally with MCF10ADCIS cells. Four to 8 weeks post-implantation, lesions (black arrows) were visible in vivo by BLI (A) and the larger lesion by FLI of C2Am in vivo (C1, arrow) and both lesions ex vivo (C2, arrows), but neither were visible by FLI of iC2Am in vivo (B1, arrow) or easily distinguishable ex vivo (B2, arrows). Lesion (D), fat pad (E), and lesion/fat pad ratios (F) of mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) were calculated for C2Am and iC2Am. The C2Am/iC2Am MFI ratio was also calculated for lesions and correlated with the levels of cell death, quantified by TUNEL staining of excised lesion sections (G). The images ex vivo (A–C: 2, 3) show the two lesions in situ in the mouse (A2, B2, C2, arrows) and the same lesions post-resection (A3, B3, C3) on a plate. Wilcoxon matched-pair analysis, red and blue dots (D–G) correspond to imaging data shown in (A–C), for left-side (red) and right-side (blue) lesions. **P < 0.005 (D–F). n = 5 mice, 9 lesions