• Jacob Gleiss, Maria Demestre, Melanie Spyra, Thomas Eschenhagen, Christian Hagel, Victor-F Mautner, Lan Kluwe, and Reinhard E Friedrich.
• DMD, Building O-10, Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany. r.friedrich@uke.de.
• In Vivo. 2013 Nov 1; 27 (6): 723-7.

Background/AimXenografted benign tumours in immunodeficient mice provide an in vivo model to study tumour biology and the effect of agents on tumour growth. Conventionally, these small grafts can only be monitored upon sacrificing the animals. We evaluated ultrasound biomicroscopy for monitoring such grafts in vivo.Materials And MethodsSmall fragments (<10 mm(3)) of a plexiform neurofibroma obtained from patients with established diagnosis of neurofibromatosis type-1 (NF1) were orthotopically-xenografted onto the sciatic nerve of immunodeficient mice and monitored using a high-resolution in vivo micro-imaging system.ResultsGrafts were identified in most cases and were distinguished from the surrounding inflammatory host tissues by detailed ultrasonographic signals. Graft sizes could be calculated precisely from serial scan sections and monitored during the whole course of drug treatment.ConclusionHigh frequency sonographic measurement is a superior non-invasive method for monitoring small grafts of slowly growing benign tumours in mice in vivo, e.g. plexiform neurofibroma, and is especially suitable for tracing the effects of drugs at multiple time-points, thus allowing a very cost-effective follow-up.

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