Then under the optical microscope with 400

times magnification, five tumor cell areas were randomly selected. Count the number of total cells and apoptotic cells to calculate the percentage of TUNEL staining positive cells, i.e., apoptotic index (AI). AI = (number of apoptotic cells/the total AR-13324 research buy number of tumor cells) × 100%. Assessment of therapeutic effect Measure the tumor size regularly to calculate the inhibition rate: during treatment use calipers to measure the maximum diameter a (cm) and the shortest diameter b (cm) of tumors every 3 d, and apply the formula V = ab2/2 to calculate the tumor volume with the unit of cm3. The tumor inhibition rate = (the average size of tumors in control group- mean tumor volume in treatment group)/mean tumor volume in control group × 100%. According to the size of the measured tumor volume, draw the growth eFT-508 molecular weight curves. Take five mice in each group for the observations of survival time. The observation lasts for 80 days and survival curves were drawn. Statistic analysis The SPSS17.0 statistic software was used to make a statistic analysis. The measurement data was expressed as mean

± SD. The analysis of variance was used to assess the inhibition rate. LSD-t test was used for pairwise comparison. Kaplan-Meier method was applied for survival analysis. A P value less than.05 was considered indicative of a statistically significant difference. Results BI 10773 cost HSV-TK in vivo transfection effect 48 h after the transfection of ultrasound microbubble mediated HSV-TK in mice, the TK protein expression was detected in tissues by western-blot. It was observed that a single band appeared in each group at 25 kd. The band in HSV-TK+US+MBs group was the most obvious (Figure 1). Figure 1 The expression of TK protein was detected by Western-blot 48 h after transfection. Each group has a single band

at 25 Buspirone HCl kDa and the TK protein expression was the highest in the HSV-TK+ US+MB group (A. PBS group; B. HSV-TK; C. HSV-TK+US; D. HSV-TK+US+MB). Apoptosis In order to further confirm that microbubble mediated HSV-TK/GCV treatment system can induce apoptosis of tumor cells. We applied TUNEL staining to detect tumor cell apoptosis in each group. When cells underwent apoptosis, DNA double-strand broke and dUTP could be marked at the DNA breakage. As can be seen from each group, the tumor cells in each group appeared apoptosis in different degrees. The tumor cell apoptosis in HSV-TK+US+MBs+ GCV group was the most obvious (Figure 2). Apoptotic index comparison: group D vs group C, P < 0.05; group D vs group A, P < 0.001; group A vs group B, P > 0.05 (Table 1). Figure 2 Apoptosis expression in four groups of mice liver cancer tissues (original magification × 400). Terminal deoxyuridine nick end-labeling results showed that cells stained brown in nuclei were apoptotic cells. The tumor cells in two groups appear apoptosis in varying degree. (a. HSV-TK+US group, b. HSV-TK+US+MB).