The action of oxazine dyes on tumors in mice.

The discovery that oral administration of the oxazine dye, Nile blue A, to tumor-bearing mice resulted in diffuse staining of the tumor cells and significant retardation of their growth (1) led to the investigation of all available oxazine dyes. Further reports (2, 3) describe the action of a few of these dyes not only on transplanted sarcomata, but also on primary induced sarcomata and spon taneous mammary gland carcinomata.2 The pres ent report summarizes the data previously re ported together with new data obtained from a number of oxazine dyes synthesized by M. L. Crossley and associates3 for the study of the cor relation between the structural nature of the compounds and their action on malignant growths.