Histopathologic Features of DMBA‐Induced Mammary Tumors in Blind‐Underfed, Blind‐Anosmic, and Blind Cold‐Exposed Rats: Influence of the Pineal Gland

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Abstract
The influence of the pineal gland on the histopathologic changes induced in mammary glands by 7, 12‐dimethylbenz(a)‐anthracene (DMBA) has been studied. To achieve the maximum expression of pineal action in animals, 28‐day‐old female Sprague‐Dawley rats were subjected to one of the following treatments: blindness + olfactory bul‐bectomy (BA), blindness + underfeeding (BU), or blindness + cold exposure (BC). Half of the rats in each group were also pinealectomized. Animals that were intact or only pinealectomized served as controls. Each animal received a single intragastrical dose of DMBA (20 mg) 4 weeks after performing the treatments mentioned above. At 28 weeks of age animals were sacrificed, and mammary tumors as well as mammary glands without macroscopic lesions were collected. Animals of the BU group failed to develop any tumors throughout the 20‐week control period. In the remaining groups, tumors were found; the relation between number of adenocarcinomas (AC) and fibroadenomas was similar, always with a greater incidence of ACs. Some ACs showed areas with changes in the ductal epithelium that are considered signs of tumoral regression; pinealectomized animals had the lowest incidence of ACs with signs of regression. Ductule hyperplasia, considered as a premalignant lesion, was more frequent in pinealectomized rats than in controls and in animals with enhanced pineal function (BA, BU, and BC). Some nontumoral mammary glands showed dysplastic lesions; these lesions were less frequent in BU rats than in controls. We conclude that suppression of pineal function sensitizes the ductule cells to the initiation of neoplastic processes and hinders the development of regressive changes.

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