Fig. 9

In vivo anti-metastatic activity of CoQ₀. a CoQ₀ inhibited lung metastasis in living MDA-MB-231-luciferase-injected mice by bioluminescence imaging. Mice were treated with CoQ₀ (1.5 or 2 mg/kg) and then the MDA-MB-231-luciferase cells (1 × 10⁶ cells/well) were intravenously injected. The mice were anaesthetized, and luciferin was intraperitoneally injected. The mice were imaged using the IVIS 200 system, and the photons from the whole animal were quantified. Diagrams showing the bioluminescent signal emitted from the whole body. The color overlay on the image represents the luminescence (photons/sec) emitted from the animal, as indicated by the color scales. Photos are representative images (n = 4). b-c Tumor sections were from control animals and experimental analogues treated with CoQ₀ (0.75 mg/kg). b MMP-2, MMP-9, p-AKT, p65, E-cadherin, and β-catenin were examined using immunohistochemical staining. c MMP-2, MMP-9, p-AKT, p65, E-cadherin, and β-catenin were examined using Western blotting. The results are the mean (±SE) numbers of cells/microscope field (as percentage) for 3 animals per group. Western blotting results showing the effects of CoQ₀ on the cumulative protein content in the xenograft tumors. β-actin were used as an internal control. Relative changes in protein bands were measured by densitometric analysis with the control being 100%. The results are the mean (±SE) numbers of cells/microscope field (as percentage) for 5~7 animals per group. Significant at *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001 compared to untreated control cells