Fig. 3

Xenotransplanted gastric cancer GCEP cells migrate and form metastasis in zebrafish. A Cell migration after 1 and 6 dpi of 50 GCnEP cells (panels I and II, respectively) or GCEP cells (panels III and IV, respectively). Double arrowheads and insets indicate the site of injection, arrows highlight the sites with cell migration. Cyan fluorescence marks vascular endothelium in Tg(fli-1:EGFP)^y1 zebrafish transgenic larvae. B, C Transversal section showing the caudal portion of a 6 dpi Tg(fli-1:EGFP)^y1 zebrafish larvae injected with GCEP cells. The white arrowhead shows a GCEP cell traveling inside the caudal artery in panel B. Arrowhead showing a metastatic tumor in the distal portion of the intestine at the level of the somites 14–16 in panel C. D Percentage of embryos with migration of cells at 1, 2, 3 and 4 days post-injection (dpi); embryos showing disseminated cells far from the sites of injection were counted. All image acquisition was carried out in a Nikon SMZ1500 stereomicroscope. All scale bars indicate 100 μM