[Meningeal gliomatosis: development of experimental models]

Experimental models of meningeal gliomatosis (MG) have been produced by intracisternal inoculation of C6 glioma and 9L glioma cells into Wistar and Fisher 344 rats, respectively. The tumor growth was steady and fast in both MG models if 10(6) cells were implanted. Median survival time(MST) of rats inoculated with tumor cells was inversely related to the number of cells inoculated. The clinicopathological features observed in both MG models were similar to those seen in diffuse leptomeningeal involvement of gliomas in human beings. The models will be useful for investigating the pathophysiology of meningeal gliomatosis and the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents.