Development of experimental meningeal gliomatosis models in rats

Experimental models of meningeal gliomatosis (MG) have been produced by intracisternal inoculation of rat C6 and 9L glioma cells into Wistar and Fischer 344 rats, respectively. Tumor growth was steady and rapid in both MG models when more than 10(6) tumor cells were implanted. The median survival time of the rats inoculated with tumor cells was inversely related to the number of the cells inoculated. The clinicopathological features observed in both MG models were similar to those seen in diffuse leptomeningeal involvement of gliomas in humans. The models may be useful for investigating the pathophysiology of MG and for the determination of the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents in brain-tumor chemotherapy.