Spontaneous tumors in Sprague-Dawley and Long-Evans rats and in their F1 hybrids: carcinogenic effect of total-body x-irradiation.

Rats frequently develop various tumors, many of them malignant; the majority of tumors in the females develop in the mammary glands. In primary spontaneous tumors and lymphomas virus particles cannot be found on electron microscopic examination; transmission of the tumors by filtered extracts has not been successful. In our colonies of Sprague-Dawley rats the incidence of tumors was 22% in females and 5% in males; in Long-Evans rats the incidence of tumors and 28% in females and 10% in males. In (Sprague-Dawley x Long-Evans) F1 hybrids the incidence of tumors was 67% in females and 32% in males, about twice as high as in the parental strains. Fractionated total-body x-irradiation (150 rads five times at weekly intervals) (1 rad = 0.01 gray) increased the incidence of tumors in Sprague-Dawley rats from 22% to 93% in females and from 5% to 59% in males. In Long-Evans rats, irradiation increased the incidence of tumors from 28% to 63% in females and from 10% to 42% in males. The incidence of malignant tumors was almost twice as high in irradiated Sprague-Dawley and Long-Evans rats as compared with nonirradiated animals of the same strains. Partial shielding during irradiation had no significant effect on the incidence or on the forms of tumors developing in the irradiated animals. In striking contrast to results of experiments carried out on mice, the incidence of leukemia and lymphomas was not increased in the irradiated rats, as compared with control animals.