The oncogenic effect of dimethylnitrosourea (DMNU) was investigated in rats of Donryu strain. The tumor induction was made in two ways. In the first experiment, 40m
g of DMNU per Kilogram of body weight were given weekly to adult rats at 6weeks of age by tail vein injection up to a total dose of 211 to 250m
g. In the second experiment, a single dose of 50m
g of DMNU per Kilogram was administered intravenously to pregnant rats of the 20th day of gestation.
In the first group, 30 animals had survived into tumor bearing age, among which 26 were found with a total of 45 tumors. Nervous system tumors amounted 42, comprising 90.3% of the total number of neoplasms. In the second group, of 31 litters treated with DMNU through the mothers, 21 developed tumors. Of a total of 23 tumors, 14 were produced in the Kidney, 8 in the nervous system and 1 in the breast. Organtropism of the carcinogenic effect of DMNU appeared shifted toward prevalent induction of Kidney tumors in rats when treated during pregnancy.
The nervous system tumors produced in both experiments amounted 50, among which 3 were produced in the brain, 1 in the spinal cord, 6 in the cranial nerve, 38 in the spinal nerve root and 2 in the peripheral nerve. The prevalent induction of nerve tumors in the spinal nerve roots and peripheral nerves in rats exposed to DMNU appears similar to previously reported distribution pattern of neurogenic tumors induced in rats by methylnitrosourea (MNU).
Acording to the cytology and pattern of predominant neoplastic cells, tumors of the brain and spinal cord were classified into 3 types ; mixed glioma, anaplastic astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma. Mixed glioma showed an irregular admixture of neoplastic astrocytes and oligodendroglioma. In electron microscopy, neoplastic astrocytes appeared dark with blunt processes which contained variable numbers of glial filaments and microtubules. Oligodendroglial cells displayed an electron lucent cytoplasm which was poor in organellas. Some of the cells with clear cytoplasm also contained masses of glial filaments,
Microscopic appearance of nerve tumors produced was that of anaplastic neurinoma. The electron microscopy of component cells was characterized by the presence of interdigitating cell processes, intracellular filaments, cell junction of intermediate type, occasional incorporation of axons, and of a partial basement membrane. The majority of nerve tumors examined were considered to originate from Schwann cells. Aldorase and LDH isozyme pattern were investigated in a solitary passaged nerve tumor together with normal rat brain. The enzyme activities specific for brain were not detected in the transplantable nerve tumor.
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