Figure 2. Lymph pulsatile movement increases with metastatic disease progression.

(A) Average volume of C6 tail xenograft tumors at indicated times post-implantation. Bar graph represents mean ± SEM, n = 6 animals. (B) Near-infrared fluorescence image following intratumoral injection of probe confirming tumor lymph drainage through the inguinal lymph node (Ing LN). Scale bar equals 1 cm. (C) Representative traces of normalized fluorescence intensity measured from labeled Ing to Ax lymph vessels in tumor-bearing animals at indicated weeks post-implantation. (D) Pulsatile frequency per animal and as the mean across animals per week after tumor implantation: week 1, 4.77±0.09; week 2, 5.60±0.27; week 3, 7.13±0.30 pulsations/minute ± SEM, n = 6 animals. (E) Relative individual tumor volume per week plotted as a function of pulsatile frequency. Relative tumor volumes were calculated by dividing individual tumor volumes by the mean tumor volume for the corresponding week. (F) Pulsatile frequency in naïve versus 66c14 tail xenograft tumor bearing animals five weeks post implantation: 4.84±0.17 versus 7.04±0.17 pulsations/minute, n = 5 animals per group, bar graph represents mean ± SEM.