Protocol to generate murine organotypic brain cultures for drug screening and evaluation of anti-metastatic efficacy

Lucía Zhu; Lauritz Miarka; Patricia Baena; María Perea-García; Manuel Valiente

doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102194

Protocol to generate murine organotypic brain cultures for drug screening and evaluation of anti-metastatic efficacy

STAR Protoc. 2023 Apr 8;4(2):102194. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102194. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Lucía Zhu¹, Lauritz Miarka¹, Patricia Baena¹, María Perea-García¹, Manuel Valiente²

Affiliations

¹ Brain Metastasis Group, Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), 28039 Madrid, Spain.
² Brain Metastasis Group, Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), 28039 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: mvaliente@cnio.es.

Abstract

Organotypic brain cultures are short-term assays that phenotypically and functionally recapitulate brain metastatic cells in vivo. Here, we present a protocol to generate murine organotypic brain cultures for drug screening. We describe steps for sectioning of murine brains and plating of organotypic cultures. We then detail evaluation of the anti-metastatic effect of chemical compounds through bioluminescence imaging before and after drug treatment. Combined with downstream applications, this protocol allows comprehensive characterizations of both cancer cells and the tumor-associated microenvironment. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Zhu et al. (2022).¹.

Keywords: Cancer; Cell Biology; Cell Culture; Model Organisms; Molecular/Chemical Probes; Neuroscience.