Monitoring Pulmonary Nodule Progression Using Micro-Computed Tomography and Blood Sampling in a Mouse Model

Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) is a real-time, intuitive, sensitive, and minimally invasive technique for monitoring changes from pulmonary nodules (PN) to lung cancer (LC). The integration of submandibular vein blood sampling enables rapid, stable, and straightforward detection of imaging and key target alterations during the progression of PN to LC. In this study, we administered a dosage of 100 mg/kg of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone in A/J mice to develop a lung adenocarcinoma model. Disease progression in the experimental animals was then monitored through submandibular vein blood sampling and micro-CT assay. Experimental results showed the presence of nodular foci in the lungs of some animals by the 10^th week, with the development of lung adenocarcinoma images becoming evident by the 21^st week. In conclusion, micro-CT can effectively observe pathological changes in the lungs of mice and, when combined with submandibular vein blood sampling, can dynamically monitor changes in blood, protein, and targets. This method provides a highly specific, simple, and sensitive approach for drug screening, pharmacokinetic testing, toxicological experiments, and safety studies.