Tumour induction in BALB/c mice for imaging studies: An improved protocol

Abstract

Immune cells in laboratory animals with normal immune system invade tumour cells and prevent tumour growth and development, making it impossible to establish tumours with adequate size for in vivo studies. For most in vivo studies, the use of nude mice is unavoidable-where the animal immune system should be inactive to ensure that the drug (or compound) of interest can affect tumour cells. For imaging purposes, in which tumour growth suppression is not the goal of study, laboratory animals with normal immune system will be of great interest, if they carry tumours of the cells of interest. In such cases, results may be more consistent to real conditions when compared to those obtained with nude mice. Compared to nude mice, animals with normal immune system are not highly