Immunohistochemical study of embryonic chick heart invaded by malignant cells in three-dimensional culture.

MO4 mouse fibrosarcoma cells, B16 mouse melanoma cells, HeLa human cervical carcinoma cells, and LICR (LOND)-HN-4 human laryngeal carcinoma cells were shown to invade into precultured fragments of 9-day-old chick cardiac muscle in three-dimensional culture. Paraffin sections from such cultures were stained with an antiserum against chick heart following the unlabeled antibody enzyme method. The immunostaining demonstrated (1) differences in the rate and the way by which the four types of malignant cells occupied and replaced the chick cardiac muscle, and (2) the phagocytic activity of the four types of invading cells in three-dimensional culture.