Assessment of the experimental model of transplanted C6 glioblastoma in Wistar rats.

Establishing in vivo glioblastoma models from cell lines requires a very strict methodology, in order to obtain reproducible tumors presenting all the characteristics of human spontaneous glioblastomas. In this respect, we have developed a model of glioblastoma in Wistar rats by stereotaxic intracerebral transplantation of a 10 microliters suspension of 6 x 10(6) C6 cells grown in vitro. The tumor take was very high in these conditions, only 1 rat over 30 had no tumor. The median survival time varied from 14 to 20 days. The growth curve of the tumor has revealed an exponential growth up to the 10th day after transplantation with a doubling time of 36 h. Histological examination of the tumors has shown several characteristic features of spontaneous glioblastomas, such as neovasculature, parenchymal invasion, nuclear pleiomorphism, and presence of hemorrhagic and necrotic areas. This C6 model is closer to the usual histological characteristics of spontaneous glioblastomas when using the Wistar rather than other strain, and it should be used in that way for preclinical therapeutic evaluation of new drugs or drug combinations in glioblastoma.