VIRUS-INDUCED ANIMAL-MODEL OF OSTEOSARCOMA IN RAT - MORPHOLOGIC AND BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 86  (2) , 437-458
Abstract
Osteosarcomas were produced by the intratibial inoculation of New Zealand black rats with Moloney sarcoma virus (MSV) at 1 day and 4 days of age. Radiographic evidence of osteosarcoma development was first demonstrated at 10-15 days postinoculation in both groups. Subsequent radiographic and light microscopic and EM evaluation of tumor-bearing rats demonstrated that osteosarcomas in rats inoculated at day 4 of age were more osteoproliferative osteosarcomas than those in rats inoculated on day 1. Rats inoculated at 4 days of age lived longer, had more slowly growing osteosarcomas, and developed a consistent tumor-associated cachexia compared to tumor-bearing rats inoculated at day 1. Both groups of rats had a 93% metastasis rate involving either sublumbar lymph nodes, lungs or both. Tumor-bearing rats inoculated at 4 days of age had consistent elevations in urinary hydroxyproline excretion (HOP/CR) and serum alkaline phosphatase levels, and in serum Ca levels at some time points. The high tumor incidence after a short latent period and the morphologic and biochemical similarities between the MSV-induced murine osteosarcoma and the osteosarcoma in human beings makes this discrete tumor a valuable animal model for the evaluation of new therapeutic regimens.

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