Experimental Metastatic Melanoma Mouse Model: A Platform to Study the Metastatic Potential of Melanoma Cells in the Lungs

- Experimental metastasis models help evaluate the tumor cells potential to extravasate and proliferate in particular sites following intravascular injection. To begin, prepare a single-cell suspension of melanoma cells in the desired concentration using an appropriate medium. Load the suspension into a syringe.

Next, restrain a mouse in a chamber and secure it such that its tail is accessible. Rotate the mouse 90 degrees to visualize its lateral vein. Use a heat lamp to increase the ambient temperature to dilate the tail vein. Now, insert the needle towards the distal end of the tail and inject the prepared melanoma cell suspension into the dilated vein.

The injected metastatic tumor cells migrate through the circulatory system. Eventually, some of these cells extravasate from the circulation into distant organs like the lungs. These tumor cells adapt to their new microenvironment to proliferate and establish experimental metastatic foci.

In the following protocol, we will demonstrate the tail vein injection of B16-BL6 melanoma cells into a mouse model to study their metastatic potential.

- After all B16-BL6 cell suspensions have been prepared, select a mouse. Holding it by the ta