Establishment of a vx2 bone tumor model in rabbit tibia / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Many methods have been developed to establish a rabbit VX2 tumor model, but the reliability of each method has not been explored. In order to develop a reliable method, we made some improvements based on the existing methods. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the reliability of rabbit VX2 tumor tissue block implantation and cell suspension via modified and traditional implantation to make the rabbit tibia VX2 tumor model. METHODS: Forty healthy adult New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into two groups. Group A was treated with tissue block implantation for tibia VX2 tumor modeling, and group B was treated with cell suspension for tibia VX2 tumor modeling. Modified and traditional implantation was performed on the left and right tibia of the experimental animals, respectively. One hour after successful modeling, ultrasound examination of the puncture site was performed to determine whether there is hematoma. All experimental animals were sacrificed at 3 weeks. X-ray examination of the bilateral tibia was performed to confirm the tumor growth range. Tumor tissue and soft tissue around the puncture site were taken for general and pathological observation to compare the size of the tumor and identify whether there is tumor cell metastasis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: One rabbit died in the tissue block group, and all the experimental animals in the cell suspension group survived. X-ray examination indicated the tumors in the tissue block group invaded the cortex, but the tumors in the cell suspension group did not invade the cortex. Gross observation revealed that the tumor volume of the tissue block group was greater than that of the cell suspension group. In the tissue block group, there were one and seven cases of hematoma around the puncture site at 1 hour after modified and traditional implantation, respectively. In the cell suspension group, there were two and nine cases of hematoma around the puncture site at 1 hour after modified and traditional implantation, respectively. Pathological examination showed that local tumor invasion was found in 1 and 8 cases in the tissue block group as well as in 2 and 11 cases in the cell suspension group at 3 months after modified and traditional implantation, respectively. Our findings indicate that the tissue block implantation method is easier and more convenient than the cell suspension method for making rabbit VX2 bone tumors, and the tumor invasion rate of the tissue block implantation method is lower than that of the cell suspension method. Improved tissue block implantation can effectively reduce the tumor invasion rate during modeling.