Harvesting Peritoneal Fat Depots: A Technique to Study Ovarian Cancer Colonization of Peritoneal Adipose Tissues in Mouse Models

Abstract

Source: Krishnan, V. et al. In Vivo and Ex Vivo Approaches to Study Ovarian Cancer Metastatic Colonization of Milky Spot Structures in Peritoneal Adipose. J. Vis. Exp. (2015)

In this video, we use a euthanized female mouse model bearing ovarian cancer. We then describe a protocol to identify and extract fat depots or adipose tissues associated with the five primary peritoneal organs to study metastatic cancer cell colonization.

Protocol

All procedures involving animal models have been reviewed by the local institutional animal care committee and the JoVE veterinary review board.

1. Preparing Animals for Experimental Studies

1. Allow animals to acclimate to new housing and environment, to recover from potential physiologic effects of transport and handling.
   Note: The following technique is applicable to all commercially available strains of mice. The number of animals to be used for an experiment is dependent on the study design and should be done with consultation from a statistician.

Results

Figure 1. The relative locations and structures of the main peritoneal adipose depots. (A) Gross anatomic dissection showing the relative location of four of the five primary sources of peritoneal fat. The omentum (OM; outlined), gonadal fat.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Dissection Tools	 Fine Science Tools	NA
PBS	 Corning	21-040-CV	Without calcium and Magnesium