ObjectiveLiquid metal (LM) nowadays is considered a new biomedical material for medical treatment. The most common application of LM in medical therapy is taking LM as a carrier for oncology therapeutics. However, the feasibility and direct effect of LM in tumor treatment are still unknown, and how to delineate the negative resection margin (NRM) of the tumor is also a crucial problem in surgery. We aimed to inject LM into interstitial channels of extremities of mice to overlay the surface of the primary tumor to investigate the effect of LM on inhibiting tumor growth and highlight the NRM of the tumor.MethodsIn this study, all 50 BALB/c-nude female mice were used to construct the transplanted HepG2-type hepatocellular carcinoma model. One week after the establishment of the model, the mice were divided into three groups, named LM group, PBS group and Control group by injecting different liquid materials into the forelimb interstitial channel of the mice. T2WI image on MRI and Magneto-acoustic tomography (MAT) were used to show the distribution of LM and PBS in vivo. The group comparisons of tumor growth and blood tests were evaluated by one-way ANOVA and post-hoc analysis. And the biocompatibility of LM to BALB/c nude mice was evaluated by histopathological analysis of LM group and control group.ResultsThe volume change ratio of tumor was significantly lower in LM group than in PBS and Control group after 10 days of grouping. Compared with PBS and Control group, the main indexes of blood tests in LM group were significantly lower and close to normal level. In addition, the distribution of LM in vivo could be clearly observed under T2WI anatomic images and the crossprofile of the tumor in MAT. LM also has a obvious contrast in MRI T2WI and enhanced the amplitude of imaging signal in MAT.ConclusionLM may inhibit the growth of transplanted hepatoma tumor through tumor encapsulation. In vivo, tumor imaging and LM distribution imaging were achieved by MRI T2WI, which verified that LM injected with interstitial injection made the NRM of tumor more prominent and had the potential of being MRI contrast agent. At the same time, LM could also be a new conductive medium to improve the imaging quality of MAT. Moreover, LM performed mild biocompatibility.

中文翻译：

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从间质通道注入液态金属抑制皮下肝癌生长并改善 MRI/MAT 图像对比度

目的液态金属（LM）如今被认为是一种新型的医疗生物医用材料。LM在医学治疗中最常见的应用是将LM作为肿瘤治疗的载体。然而，LM在肿瘤治疗中的可行性和直接效果尚不清楚，如何圈定肿瘤的阴性切除边缘（NRM）也是手术中的关键问题。我们的目的是将LM注射到小鼠四肢的间质通道中，覆盖原发肿瘤的表面，以研究LM抑制肿瘤生长的作用，并突出肿瘤的NRM。 方法本研究中，所有50名BALB/c-裸雌性小鼠采用小鼠构建HepG2型肝细胞癌移植模型。模型建立1周后，通过向小鼠前肢间质通道注射不同的液体材料，将小鼠分为3组，分别为LM组、PBS组和Control组。MRI 和磁声断层扫描 (MAT) 上的 T2WI 图像用于显示 LM 和 PBS 在体内的分布。通过单向方差分析和事后分析评估肿瘤生长和血液测试的组间比较。并通过LM组和对照组的组织病理学分析评估LM与BALB/c裸鼠的生物相容性。结果分组10天后，LM组肿瘤体积变化率显着低于PBS组和Control组。与PBS组和Control组相比，LM组血液检查主要指标显着降低并接近正常水平。此外，在T2WI解剖图像和MAT中肿瘤的横截面下可以清楚地观察到LM在体内的分布。LM在MRI T2WI上也有明显的对比，增强了MAT中成像信号的幅度。结论LM可能通过肿瘤包膜抑制肝癌移植瘤的生长。在体内，通过MRI T2WI实现肿瘤成像和LM分布成像，验证了间质注射LM使肿瘤的NRM更加突出，具有作为MRI造影剂的潜力。同时，LM也可以作为一种新的导电介质来提高MAT的成像质量。此外，LM 具有轻度的生物相容性。