Anti-metastasis evaluation
The anti-metastatic effect of icariin was evaluated in a lung metastatic
4T1 model. A total of 1×106 eT1-Luciferase cells were
injected into Balb/c mice via the tail vein to establish the pulmonary
metastasis model. A total of 18 mice were equally and randomly divided
into three groups (control, 5 mg/kg, and 10 mg/kg). The mice received
icariin treatment 2 days after inoculation via intraperitoneal injection
once daily for two weeks. At the determined time (5, 10, or 15 days
after treatment), the mice were
anesthetized, intraperitoneally administered with 100 μL of D-luciferin
(30 mg/mL in PBS), and the bioluminescence from metastatic lung tumors
was analyzed using an IVIS Lumina in vivo Imaging System
(PerkinElmer, USA). At the
termination of the experiment, the lungs were isolated from the
euthanized mice, and the metastatic nodules were counted and fixed with
paraformaldehyde for further evaluation using hematoxylin and eosin
(H&E) staining.