Our lab uses frequently uses matrigel for intraperitoneal injection of ovarian/endometrial tumour cells. However, there is no literature I can find that describes the use of matrigel with IP injections, and it is only recommended for orthotopic and subcutaneous injections.
Intraperitoneal injection is more like a metastatic model and so it seems as though the formation of a matrigel plug is counter-intuitive.
Should I stick to just using PBS? Or should it not really matter?
Edit:
Thank you for all your answers so far! I would like to add that with gynecological cancers, direct spread to the peritoneal cavity is very common; metastasis via the blood stream not so much. That's why we inject tumour cells intraperitoneally.
Hi, for my work, I used to inject the cells with matrigel via intraperitoneal. The use for matrigel is to promote the growth of the cells. For metastatic model, isn't using iv injections are much better?
As you mentioned, Intraperitoneal injection mimics dissemination into the intraperitoneal membrane. ECM such as matrigel helps cancer cells colonize and proliferate in the totally different conditions from 2D culture. That is why usage of matrigel is better, but since matrigel is relatively expensive and not essential for tumor formation in the abdomen, many researchers fail to inject cells with matrigel.
Hi, matrigel usually helps the cells for the very first moments were vascularization and nutrients supply are the limitant points, and also helps to "pack" the cells and not to disggregate around the injection point.
In my experience, an ip tumor cells injection, gives you a metastatic model all over the peritoneal space, that´s why we never use matrigel, just PBS or saline.
Good luck
I agree with the comments above that ECMs such as matrigel help tumour formation and are generally used subcutaneously to privide a better environment for the cells at the site of injection.
However, when we looked at metastasis, we generally injected the cells iv (intravenous), usually into the tail vein and without any matrigel as it can also clogg the vein. For injection we either used PBS or sometimes also the medium that cells were normally grown in but without any additives such as serum or antibiotics etc (for us usually DMEM). That way you can see to which site the cells spread. Something else to note is that tailvein injections usually need a bit of practise and are often not that easy. If you don't have anyone in the lab or institute that has done it, it would probably be good to practise on a mouse that you don't need anymore (e.g. from a different experiment). After all you want to make sure that you inject the amount of cells that you've counted and not sometimes half of that.
I'm not sure ip injection (as you suggested it) would be an appropriate model for metastasis.
I hope this helps and good luck
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