Vascularity and perfusion of human gliomas xenografted in the athymic nude mouse

The vascularisation and perfusion of seven subcutaneously xenografted human glioma lines established from surgical specimens has been analysed using an anti-collagen type IV antibody to visualise the vascular walls in combination with a perfusion marker (Hoechst 33342). A computer-based digital image processing system was employed for quantitative analysis of the parameters. The vascular architecture of individual tumours belonging to the same tumour line showed a consistent similarity, while substantial differences occurred between the various tumour lines derived from different patients. Despite the presence of a large inter-tumour variation in vascular area as a proportion of the tumour area, this vascular parameter clearly showed tumour line-specific characteristics. The perfused fraction of the tumour vessels also showed a large inter-tumour variation for all tumour lines ranging from 20% to 85%, but the majority of tumours of all lines had perfusion fractions of more than 55%. Despite large variation, the perfused vascular area as a proportion of the tumour cross-sectional area exhibited clear tumour line-specific tendencies. These observations suggest that consistent differences in vascular parameters are present between glioma xenograft lines, although the tumour lines all originated from histologically similar human high-grade gliomas. These differences may have important consequences for treatment and clinical behaviour of this type of tumour.