Properties of melanoma mitochondria to form tumor nodules in the body of experimental animals

The aim hereof is to develop a method for revealing the properties of mitochondria isolated from melanoma of the skin to form melanoma tumor nodules in the body of mice in parenteral transplantation of melanoma mitochondria. Materials and methods. We used experimental animals according to the following design: intraperitoneal transplantation with B16/F10 melanoma mitochondria in the Balb/c Nude male mice, n = 8. All animals underwent a one-time transplantation of B16/F10 melanoma mitochondria based on 5.2 mg of protein per 1 animal in 0.4 ml of saline solution. The Balb/c Nude male mice were used as the references, which were transplanted with 0.4 ml of saline solution once into the muscle and intraperitoneally. Morphological examination of sections of the internal organs and the B16/F10 melanoma foci was carried out after specimen paraffin embedding and hematoxylin- eosin staining with microscopy of specimens with Axiovert (Carl 44 Zeiss, Germany) and Axiovision 4 image visualization software (Carl Zeiss, Germany). Results. Upon intraperitoneal transplantation of mitochondria isolated from melanoma to the Balb/c Nude mice, in the autopsies in 100% of the animals after 2 weeks of the experiment the total damage to the internal organs by the tumor nodules was revealed. The morphological examination of the internal organs of the Nude mice 2 weeks after the intraperitoneal transplantation of B16 melanoma mitochondria demonstrated a tumor lesion of the visceral tissue and the abdominal organs. Conclusion. Thus, the use of parenteral transplantation of mitochondria isolated from B16/F10 melanoma in the C57BL/6 and Balb/c Nude male mice caused the growth and development of melanoma foci in the body. Our study revealed previously unknown properties of mitochondria isolated from B16/F10 skin melanoma, consisting in their ability to induce the development of melanoma tumor nodules in the body of animals upon the tumor cell parenteral transplantation.