Ovarian influence on pulmonary carcinogenesis by hydrazine sulfate in BALB/c/Cb/Se mice

Daily administration of hydrazine sulfate, 1.13 mg/mouse for 150 doses, to BALB/c/Cb/Se female mice in various hormonal states varied the incidence and the average number of pulmonary tumors per tumor-bearing mouse as follows: in intact virgins, 90.0% and 3; in breeders, 100% and 14; in gonadectomized mice, 60.0% and 5. Histologically, in intact virgins, 3.3% were carcinomas and 96.6% were adenomas; in breeders, 47.2% were carcinomas and 52.7% were adenomas; in gonadectomized mice, 4% were carcinomas and 96% were adenomas. Many pulmonary carcinomas induced in breeders infiltrated the thoracic wall and the mediastinal organs and metastasized to the adrenal glands and myocardium. The greater biologic and morphologic malignancy of the induced tumors observed in breeders, as compared to those in intact virgin and gonadectomized mice, was associated with an increased ovarian hormone production.