Neural recordings of spontaneously metastasizing melanomas and melanomas with low metastatic potential v1

Multiple studies report that melanomas are innervated tumors with sensory and sympathetic fibers where these neural fibers play crucial functional roles in tumor growth and metastasis with branch specificity. Yet there is no study which reports the direct neural recording and its pattern during in-vivo progression of the cancer. We performed daily neural recordings from male and female mice bearing orthotopic metastasizing-melanomas and melanomas with low metastatic poential, derived from B16-F10 and B16-F1 cancer cells, respectively. Further, to explore the origins of neural activity, 6-Hydroxidopamine mediated chemical sympathectomy was performed followed by daily microneurographic recordings. We also performed the daily bioluminescent imaging to track in vivo growth of primary tumors and distant metastasis to the cranial area. The protocols contained herein describe the methods, materials and equipment used to accomplish this research.