[Changes in the adhesiveness between enterocytes after short-term blastomogenic exposures]

Following short-term local applications of high doses of N-methyl-N-nitrozourea and 7,2-dimethylbenz(a)antracen, the intercellular adhesion in the distal colon epithelium of ice retains increased at least for a month. The magnitude of this shift and its duration ops both with moving away from the area of application, or with reducing the doses of carcinogens to be closely related to the frequency of tumour production in the site of epithelium under chronic local applications of N-methyl-N-nitrozourea. After the application of noncarcinogenic methylurea or the subcutaneous injection of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine to the mice resistant to its carcinogenic action the wavy fluctuations of the magnitude of intercellular adhesion disappear within a week. The following conclusion can be drawn from the results: the long-term increase in enterocyte-enterocyte adhesion may be an earlier sign of the colon epithelium reaction to carcinogenic action.