Effects of diethylnitrosamine on lung neuroendocrine cells

Diethylnitrosamine is known to cause squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the lung in Syrian golden hamsters. Sections of lungs obtained from hamsters treated with the systemic carcinogen diethylnitrosamine revealed a significant increase in the number of argyrophilic cells of neuroepithelial bodies. These affected cells also exhibited enhanced survival in vitro. After 7 days in culture, argyrophilia, dense-core vesicles, and corticotropin-like immunoreactivity were observed in many of the cells derived from the lungs of carcinogen-exposed hamsters by dissociation with pronase. In addition, nuclei of argyrophilic cells in neuroepithelial bodies of the exposed hamsters were labeled at 60 min following administration of [3H]thymidine. This suggests that the carcinogen stimulates the pulmonary neuroendocrine-like cells to divide. Normally, the component cells of neuroepithelial bodies may originate from nonargyrophilic precursor cells in the surrounding epithelium, as in control hamsters the argyrophilic cells of neuroepithelial bodies appeared labeled only at 8 days after the administration of thymidine. The relationship of the diethylnitrosamine-induced reactions to bronchial carcinoid tumors or small-cell carcinomas of the lung remains to be established.