In Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Investigating the Development and Distribution of Experimental Brain Metastases due to Breast Cancer

INTRODUCTION: The overall goal of this study was to assess the utility of three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for monitoring the temporal and spatial development of experimental brain metastasis in mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Brain metastatic human breast cancer cells (231-BR or 231-BR-HER2) were injected intracardially in nude mice for delivery to the brain. Mouse brains were imaged in vivo at different time points using a balanced steady-state-free precession (bSSFP) pulse sequence at 1.5 T. Brains were categorized into four regions: cortex, central brain, olfactory, and posterior. The number of metastases and their volumes were quantified for both cell lines. RESULTS: There was no difference in the mean number of metastases for either cell line. The volumes of metastases in mice injected with 231-BR-HER2 cells were significantly larger than those for mice injected with 231-BR cells. The growth rate for 231-BR-HER2 metastases was 67.5% compared with 54.4% for the 231-BR metastases. More than 50% of metastases were located in the cortex and 25% to 30% of metastases were identified in the central brain for each time point and for mice injected with either cell line. The volumes of metastases were significantly larger in mice with fewer metastases at end point. SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS: MRI provided a comprehensive accounting of the number and size of experimental brain metastases in the whole mouse brain at multiple time points. This approach has provided new information about the temporal and spatial development of metastases in the brain not possible by other histopathologic or imaging methods.