ABSTRACTS EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES; ANIMAL TUMORS Production of Hepatic Tumors in White Rats by 3 : Kbenzpyrene, C
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ABSTRACTS EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES; ANIMAL TUMORS Production of Hepatic Tumors in White Rats by 3 : kBenzpyrene, C. OBERLING, P. GU~RIN,AND M. GUBRIN. La production de tumeur hkpatique par le 3-4 benzopyrhe chez le rat blanc, Compt. rend. SOC.de biol. 130: 417-419, 1939. Small fragments of 3 : 4-benzpyrene were implanted in the livers of 10 rats, 8 of which survived more than a year. Hepatic tumors developed in the injected regions in two rats. One tumor, in a rat which died in the sixteenth month, was a histiocytic sarcoma and was transplanted through five generations; the other, in a rat which died in the twenty-fifth month, was also a histiocytic sarcoma. L. FOULDS Experimental Brain Tumors, M. ASKANAZY.Experimentelle Hirngeschwulste, Wien. klin. Wchnschr. 50: 816-822, 1937. Three observations on experimental intracranial tumors are recorded. Peritoneal sarconiata in the rat, elicited by intraperitoneal injections of benzpyrene in olive oil or beef suet, were transplantable in the brains of homologous animals. Intracerebra1 implantation in the rabbit of fetal tissue combined with inoculation of 0.25 C.C. of a 0.48 per cent solution of benzpyrene in olive oil, concurrently and twenty-two days later, was followed by development of a chondroma, measuring 5 x 6 mm., in the lateral ven- tricle in one animal that died eight weeks after the beginning of the experiment. A cerebellar chondroma, measuring 13 x 7 mm. with areas suggestive of chondrosarcoma, was observed in a second rabbit after eight months. The animal had received two injections within one month of 0.5 C.C. of benzpyrene alone (concentration not stated) in suet in the direction of the convexity to the base of the brain. Two photographs of transplanted cerebral sarcomata, and photomicrographs of secondary and primary experimental intracranial neoplasia are included. MILTONJ. EISEN Induced Brain Tumors, 0. MARBURG.Zur Frage der kunstlichen Hirntumoren, Wien. klin. Wchnschr. 50: 1509-1511, 1937. Preliminary observations are recorded on the production of cerebral neoplasia in rabbits by a combination of injury and blockage of the reticulo-endothelial system with trypan blue. Animals in the first series received heavy blows on the skull over the cerebellum at the age of eight days. After an unspecified interval minimal proliferation developed in the subependymal zone. In a second series the point of a cautery was inserted into the brain substance. A small cyst was observed in the inferior horn of the lateral ventricle in one animal sacrificed after thirteen months. A portion of the cyst wall was bordered by a tumor-like proliferation of glial cells. Five photomicrographs are included. MILTONJ. EISEN Further Observations on Filterable Tumours Induced in Fowls by Injection of Tar, J. MCINTOSHAND F. R. SELBIE. Brit. J. Exper. Path. 20: 49-63, 1939. McIntosh previously described the propagation of five sarcomas induced in fowls by injections of tar and the transmission of three of them by cell-free filtrates (Brit. J. Exper. Path. 14: 422, 1933. Abst. in Am. J. Cancer 21: 111, 1934). Five additional tumors induced by tar are now dkscribed; four were transmitted by tumor emulsions and two of these by cell-free filtrates. One of the primary tumors, a fibrosarcoma, gave rise only to leukemic tumors in the first transplanted generation; both leukemic and sarcomatous elements were present in the growths of the second generation and subse- quently only sarcoma was found. A similar sequence of events was observed in a sub- strain of one of the tumors described in the earlier paper. The association of fowl 119 120 ABSTRACTS tumors with leukosis is attributed to the presence of two viruses, the result of transmis- sion being dependent on their relative virulence and on the site of inoculation. The tumor agent can be carried in a leukemic lesion without producing a sarcoma. The behavior of induced tumors is variable; since other workers have propagated only a few chemically induced tumors, their failure to demonstrate cell-free transmission may be due to chance. The technic of transplantation may be important. Dilute emulsions of young, actively growing tumors should be injected into 10 to 20 chickens. It seems that these fowl tumors can be trained to require fewer cells for their transmission so that the filtrable agent takes a more active part. The consistent inactivity of Berke- feld filtrates of a few induced tumors may be due to variation in the relation of the virus to the tumor cells, to a decrease in virulence, to the presence of an inhibitory substance in the filtrates, or to the virus being too large to pass through Berkefeld filters. Active virus can be demonstrated in a large proportion of chemically induced tumors and it is concluded that tar-induced sarcomas of fowls are virus tumors and that the carcinogenic agents used for induction play no part in the subsequent malignant process. Photographs, photomicrographs, and references are included. L. FOULDS Growth of Spontaneous Mouse Tumours and of Tumours Induced by 1 : 2 : 5 : 6- Dibenzanthracene, N. DOBROVOLSKA~A-ZAVADSKA~AAND I. NEKHOROCHEFF. Essai d’une dtude quantitative de la croissance de tumeurs spontanbes et de tumeurs provoqubes par le 1 : 2 : 5 : 6-dibenzanthradne chez la souris, Compt. rend, SOC.de biol. 130: 693-696, 1939. Forty spontaneous mouse tumors and ten sarcomas induced by dibenzanthracene were measured in three dimensions twice a week. The cube root of the product of three dimensions was plotted as ordinate against time as abscissa. A straight line throughout the period of observation was obtained for 29 tumors and a straight line terminating in a downward curve or abrupt fall, attributable to necrosis, ulceration, etc., for a further 15 tumors; irregular curves were obtained for 6 tumors. For the majority, therefore, the growth of the mean diameter per day was constant. The value of the constant, varying in different tumors, probably depended on histologic structure and localization and on the age of the host. The observed limits were 0.1-0.45 mm. per day for mam- mary adenocarcinomas and 0.24-0.77 for the sarcomas. L. FOULDS Effect of a Tar Pellet on the Gallbladder of the Rabbit, D. DONATI. Studio sul com- portamento della colecisti del coniglio in seguito alla introduzione di calcoli di catrame cancerigeno, Ann. ital. di. chir. 16: 41-52, 1937. Pellets of equal dimensions consisting of cement or cement and tar were introduced into the gallbladders of rabbits. In both instances a preliminary inflammatory reaction occurred after ten days and gradually subsided. Connective-tissue repair resulted. Tar pellets stimulated progressive hyperplastic changes in the mucosa after one month. At five months, when the experiment was concluded, the lesion suggested adenomatous proliferation, but the author found no evidence of malignant alteration, such as was recorded by Leitch (Brit. M. J. 2: 451, 1924) and others. The mucosal reaction in the control animals was slight. Photomicrographs are included. MILTONJ. EISEN The Photodynamic Activity of the Urine of Mice Treated with Blastogenic Hydrocarbons, J. C. MOTTRAM.Proc. Roy. SOC.London, ser. B 126: 560-566, 1939. It was reported previously that a number of carcinogenic agents make the skin of mice photosensitive and have a photodynamic action on protozoa (Nature 140: 933, 1937. Lancet 1: 1156, 1938. Absts. in Am. J. Cancer 32: 291,1938; 35: 280,1939). It is now recorded that mice to which carcinogenic hydrocarbons were administered se- creted a photodynamic substance in the urine; the substance was present for two days after painting benzpyrene on the skin and for at least a month after subcutaneous injec- tion of benzpyrene in olive oil. Seventeen polycyclic compounds were administered to mice; the carcinogenic compounds caused the excretion of photodynamic substances but the non-carcinogenic compounds did not. The close correlation between blastogenic activity of the hydrocarbons and the presence of photodynamic substances in the urine EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ; ANIMAL TUMORS 121 suggests that similar substances should be sought in the urine of cancer patients. The observations indicate that the blastogenic hydrocarbons are those which the tissues are able to convert into photodynamic derivatives, which are probably water-soluble oxidation products. L. FOULDS Effects Induced in Pregnant Rats by Injection of Chemically Pure Carcinogenic Agents, J. M. WOLFEAND W. R. BRYAN. Am. J. Cancer 36: 359-368, 1939. Daily subcutaneous injections of 1 : 2 : 5 : 6-dibenzanthracene, 3 : 4-benzpyrene, or 1 : 2-benzanthracene in rats, begun on the first day of pregnancy, caused profuse vaginal hemorrhage beginning on the tenth or twelfth day, having its origin in the lateral margin of the placenta. The uterine epithelium extending over the decidua reflexa was destroyed in most instances, resulting in a passage of blood into the uterine lumen. There were cessation of growth of the fetus and a progressive destruction and resorption of all fetal and placental tissue. This pathologic process was usually com- pleted by the eighteenth day of pregnancy. Photomicrographs are included and four references are given. Variations in the Inhibitory Power of Carcinogenic Hydrocarbons according to Solvent, E. MORELLIAND A. DANSI. Nature 143: 1021, 1939. The inhibitory action of carcinogenic hydrocarbons on the growth of transplantable tumors (see Haddow: Nature 136: 868, 1935. Abst. in Am. J. Cancer 26: 620, 1936) has been studied. In the case of the Walker rat carcinoma, there is a total suppression of this inhibitory power when 3 : 4-benzpyrene is dissolved in fats obtained by extraction from rat tissues instead of in lard. A marked diminution in the inhibitory power occurs under similar circumstances with 1 : 2 : 5 : 6-dibenzanthracene. A. F. WATSON Photo-oxides of Carcinogenic Hydrocarbons, J. W. COOK,R. MARTIN,AND E. M.