Fig. 5.

Biodistribution images of mouse organs following injection of monocytes/macrophages loaded with red fluorescent nanospheres. The distribution of metastatic tumor foci (green fluorescence) and macrophages loaded with the red fluorescent nanospheres in the brain, lung, liver, and the heart was determined after resection using an optical imaging system. The images of green fluorescence (green fluorescent protein, gfp) and red fluorescence (red fluorescent particles, rfp) were taken after exposure time of 600 ms. The intensity of the fluorescence in different area of the organs is measured using the signal intensity bar. There is abundant uptake of microsphere-laden macrophages in the liver. Brain metastases are located in the left hemisphere of the brain. The distribution of the red fluorescence within the brain overlaps that of the green fluorescence suggesting that the microsphere-laden macrophages are co-located with the cerebral metastases