Investigating the effect of longitudinal micro-CT imaging on tumour growth in mice

The aim of this study is to determine the impact of longitudinal micro-CT imaging on the growth of B16F1 tumours in C57BL/6 mice. Sixty mice received 2 × 10(5) B16F1 cells subcutaneously in the hind flank and were divided into control (no scan), 'low-dose' (80 kVp, 70 mA, 8 s, 0.07 Gy), 'medium-dose' (80 kVp, 50 mA, 30 s, 0.18 Gy) and 'high-dose' (80 kVp, 50 mA, 50 s, 0.30 Gy) groups. All imaging was performed on a fast volumetric micro-CT scanner (GE Locus Ultra, London, Canada). Each mouse was imaged on days 4, 8, 12 and 16. After the final imaging session, each tumour was excised, weighed on an electronic balance, imaged to obtain the final tumour volume and processed for histology. Final tumour volume was used to evaluate the impact of longitudinal micro-CT imaging on the tumour growth. An ANOVA indicated no statistically significant difference in tumour volume (p = 0.331, α = β = 0.1) when discriminating against a treatment-sized effect. Histological samples revealed no observable differences in apoptosis or cell proliferation. We conclude that four imaging sessions, using standard protocols, over the course of 16 days did not cause significant changes in final tumour volume for B16F1 tumours in female C57BL/6 mice (ANOVA, α = β = 0.1, p = 0.331).