Metastic tumor of the brain: development of an experimental model

The injection of a suspension of Walker 256 carcinoma cells into the carotid artery of rats produced a model of hematogenously spread cerebral metastases. Most animals died from massive extracerebral tumors of the head and jaw; brain tumors were present in only one-quarter. External carotid artery ligation prior to tumor inoculation did not increase the incidence of fatal brain tumor. When cyclophosphamide, 15 mg/kg, was injected as a single dose on the fourteenth day after tumor inoculation, most of the extracerebral tumor disappeared. Fifty percent of the animals so treated were cured of tumor, but 90% of the remainder died of large intracerebral tumors. Severe cytopathic changes resulting from cyclophosphamide were present in extracerebral or choroid plexus tumors but were mild or nonexistent in intracerebral tumors. These selective effects of cyclophosphamide suggest that water-soluble agents are less effective against tumor in the brain than against extracerebral tumors despite the fact that metastatic tumor breaks down the blood-brain barrier.