Usefulness of rapid production model for pancreatic carcinoma in male hamsters

The rapid production model of pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma established previously in female Syrian hamsters was applied to male hamsters to confirm the efficacy of the "augmentation pressure" procedure and to reveal sex difference in response to this procedure. Hamsters received 70 mg/kg N-nitrosobis (2-oxopropyl) amine (BOP) as an initiation and two cycles of "augmentation pressure" consisting of ethionine on a choline-deficient diet, methionine and BOP and an additional 20 mg/kg BOP and were killed 10 weeks after the beginning of the experiment. During the experimental period, 28% of the hamsters died and severe body weight loss was observed, however, incidence of pancreatic carcinomas reached 50% which is a significantly higher level than that in hamsters which received BOP without "augmentation pressure". A 66.7% yield of cholangiocellular tumors was also observed. The present result indicates that the "augmentation pressure" effected rapid production of pancreatic carcinoma in male hamsters in spite of sex difference in response.