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Demonstration of Embryonic-type Hemoglobin in Extramedullary Hematopoietic Cells in the Liver during Experimental Liver Carcinogenesis by 3'-Methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene¹

Department of Pathology, Sapporo Medical College, Sapporo, Japan

Using an immunofluorescent technique, we demonstrated the production of rat embryonic-type hemoglobin in extramedullary hematopoietic cells, which appeared in the liver of adult Wistar rats fed a diet containing 0.06% 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene. Specific anti-rat embryonic hemoglobin serum was prepared by immunizing a rabbit with hemoglobin from a 15- or 16-day-old Wistar rat fetus and absorbing with adult rat liver homogenate and red blood cells. The appearance of hematopoietic foci was observed at both precancerous and cancerous stages during 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene-induced liver carcinogenesis. At the cancerous stage, almost all these foci were observed in poorly differentiated hepatocellular carcinomas. The hematopoietic cells seen at both stages were stained positively with antiembryonic hemoglobin serum, but red blood cells and other types of cells in the liver did not show this specific fluorescence. These results together with earlier observations on the appearance of fetal characteristics strongly suggest that a fetal environment prevails in the adult rat liver during hepatic carcinogenesis.

¹ This research was supported by Grant-in-Aid 201069 for cancer research from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, Japan.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at University of Toronto, Department of Pathology, Medical Sciences Building, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8.

Received 7/17/79. Accepted 2/19/80.