Histopathological studies of the nervous system tumors in rats induced by N-nitroso-methyl-urea

Histopathological examinations were made on tumors of the nervous system induced in rats of Donryu strain by weekly intravenous injections with N-nitroso-methyl-urea (NMU) or by a single administration of NMU through the mothers. A total of 176 neural and nonneural neoplasms were produced in this study. It was suggested that the fetal nervous system of Donryu rats was also highly susceptible to the oncogenic effects of NMU. Of these tumors produced, those of the peripheral nervous system amounted to 121, comprising 68.7% of the total number of the neoplasm. Microscopically, most of the nerve tumors showed the histology corresponding to that of human neurinomas. Many tumors, however, disclosed more or less anaplastic cytological appearance. Fifteen gliomas were produced in the brain and spinal cord. Microscopically, they were classified into mixed glioma, oligondendroglioma and anaplastic astrocytoma. The commonest brain tumors produced in rats from intravenously treated group were periventricular mixed gliomas, while gliomas in rats from transplacentably treated group showed an isomorphic histology with a close resemblance to that of oligodendroglioma.