A Lightweight, 3D-Printable, Low-Cost, "One-Click" Dorsal Skin Window for High-Quality Long-Term Multimodal...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cancer Research
• Animal Models

Background:

• Intravital microscopy (IVM) is crucial for real-time tumor microenvironment imaging.
• Conventional dorsal skinfold chambers (DSCs) cause animal distress and are surgically complex.
• There is a need for improved DSCs that enhance animal welfare and simplify procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel 3D-printed, stereolithography (SLA)-based dorsal skinfold chamber (DSC).
• To create an affordable, lightweight, and biocompatible DSC with a suture-free fixation system.
• To enable long-term, multimodal imaging for studying tumor microenvironment dynamics and therapeutic responses.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of an SLA-based, 3D-printed DSC using biocompatible resin.
• Development of a suture-free, "one-click" fixation system for simplified surgical implantation.
• Validation in mice bearing pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) organoids, employing multimodal imaging (IVM, micro-CT, ultrasound, fluorescence).

Main Results:

• The 3D-printed DSC is lightweight (0.69 g), affordable, and simplifies implantation, minimizing inflammation.
• Sustained multimodal imaging for up to four weeks allowed tracking of tumor expansion, stromal remodeling, and vascular network formation.
• In vivo tracking revealed neutrophil migration transitions from acute inflammation to directed chemotaxis within the tumor microenvironment.

Conclusions:

• The novel 3D-printed DSC offers an ergonomic, robust, and reliable platform for high-quality, long-term assessment of tumor-stroma-immune interactions.
• This improved DSC design significantly enhances animal welfare by reducing distress and surgical invasiveness.
• The device facilitates advanced research into cancer biology and therapeutic efficacy by enabling detailed multimodal imaging.