Figure 4.

Potential for dual bioluminescence imaging of tumours in vivo. (A) Mice bearing subcutaneous tumours engineered to express either firefly luciferase (tumour site 1, FLuc), Renilla luciferase (tumour site 2, RLuc) or both luciferase systems (tumour site 3). (B) Bioluminescence image following injection of coelenterazine (substrate for Renilla luciferase) with light detected from tumours 2 and 3. (C) The same mouse imaged 4 h later following injection with D-luciferin (substrate for firefly luciferase) with light detected from tumours 1 and 3. Neither of the substrates showed any cross-reactivity with the alternative luciferase enzyme, and tumour 3 (a mixture of both cell types) emitted a signal when both substrates were administered, supporting the potential for dual BLI imaging in preclinical cancer pharmacology studies. All images were collected using the IVIS-50 system.