Quantitative Bioluminescent Imaging of Ovarian Tumor Burden

The Yale Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approved all animal protocols that guided the in vivo experiments described in this study. All animals bear i.p. tumors from TKO ovarian cancer cells. 1 × 10^{7 (link)} mCherry-positive TKO cells were injected in 4-week old female C57BL/6 J mice (Jackson Laboratories). Imaging was performed twice a week under isoflurane anesthesia using the Invivo FX PRO imaging system (Bruker Corp.). mCherry fluorescence was acquired at 550 excitation and 635 emission. Images were set at 0.5 min and 5000 max and mCherry region of interest (ROI) area was quantified as previously described using Bruker MI software.^{34 (link),35 (link)} Body area, which was used as a surrogate for abdominal girth, was calculated using height and width measures from x-ray images. Body area measurement that is equal to or greater than 800 mm² was considered to be positive for ascites.