This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Daoust, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Daoust, R.

The Mitotic Activity in Rat Liver during DAB Carcinogenesis^*

R. Daoust

( Laboratoires de Recherche, Institut du Cancer de Montréal, Hôpital Notre-Dame et Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada)

The incidence of mitoses in the various cell types of rat liver was estimated at different time intervals during carcinogenesis by 4-dimethylaminoazobenzene (DAB).

Increased mitotic activities were observed in all cell types during DAB feeding, but no appreciable activity could be detected in the liver of rats fed the control diet.

The data on parenchymal cells suggest that the liver parenchyma is the site of two distinct proliferative phenomena during DAB carcinogenesis. First, the parenchymal cells undergo a process of reparative cell formation in response to the cellular damage caused by the carcinogenic agent. Second, while the regenerative phenomenon is still going on, some cells undergo neoplastic growth, a process differing from the first one by its much higher rate of mitotic divisions and its additive character. A discontinuity in mitotic activity, as well as in many other tissue properties, parallels the neoplastic transformation of parenchymal cells.

^* This investigation was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute of Canada to Dr. A. Cantero, Director of the Research Laboratories.

Research Scientist of the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

Received 1/22/62.