Harvesting Peritoneal Fat Depots: A Technique to Study Ovarian Cancer Colonization of Peritoneal Adipose Tissues in Mouse Models

Abstract

Source: Krishnan, V. et al. In Vivo and Ex Vivo Approaches to Study Ovarian Cancer Metastatic Colonization of Milky Spot Structures in Peritoneal Adipose. J. Vis. Exp. (2015)

In this video, we use a euthanized female mouse model bearing ovarian cancer. We then describe a protocol to identify and extract fat depots or adipose tissues associated with the five primary peritoneal organs to study metastatic cancer cell colonization.

Protocol

All procedures involving animal models have been reviewed by the local institutional animal care committee and the JoVE veterinary review board. 1. Preparing Animals for Experimental Studies Allow animals to acclimate to new housing and environment, to recover from potential physiologic effects of transport and handling. Note: The following technique is applicable to all commercially available strains of mice. The number of animals to be use…

Representative Results

Figure 1. The relative locations and structures of the main peritoneal adipose depots. (A) Gross anatomic dissection showing the relative location of four of the five primary sources of peritoneal fat. The omentum (OM; outlined), gonadal fat (GF), uterine fat (UF), mesentery (MY), ovary (ov), uterine horns (uh), and small intestines (si) are shown. (B)</stro…

Materials

Dissection Tools	Fine Science Tools	NA
PBS	Corning	21-040-CV	Without calcium and Magnesium