Biomedical subjects
E Karbe
Publications and source records attributed to E Karbe.
[Comparative anatomy of the pharyngeal and cervical lymph nodes in domestic mammals and in man. Homology and suggestion of nomenclature].
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"Mesenchymal tumor" or "decidual-like reaction"?
For more than 40 yr, an unusual urinary bladder lesion has been known to occur in certain strains of mice, but no consensus has been obtained regarding its etiology, pathogenesis, biology, or classification. The lesion was first assumed to be epithelial and non-neoplastic, then it was called a smooth muscle cell tumor or leiomyosarcoma because of ultrastructural characteristics for smooth muscle cells. Later, the nonspecific term "mesenchymal tumor" was introduced due to histomorphologic differences from all smooth muscle tumors known. Recently, a proposal was made to name it "decidual-like reaction" because of the histomorphologic similarity to the rare spontaneous decidual reaction in the uterus of aging mice. Both lesions are characterized by spindle and large pleomorphic epithelioid cells with large bizarre nuclei; these characteristics mimic anaplasia of malignant tumors and led pathologists to assume a neoplastic nature. The decidual hypothesis is supported by the regular presence of nuclear progesterone receptors, the occasional occurrence of eosinophilic cytoplasmic granules, the rare finding of cells morphologically resembling granulated metrial gland cells (all also observed in the uterine decidual reaction), and the reproducibility through long-term feeding of combinations of estrogens and progestogens. It appears that the new decidual hypothesis can explain many detailed facets of the lesion, with the exception of the reported smooth muscle cell characteristics. The controversy of "mesenchymal tumor versus decidual-like reaction" should be resolved soon, not only as a scientific issue, but also because of consequences for risk assessment.
Spontaneous tumors of 2000 Wistar TNO/W.70 rats in two-year carcinogenicity studies.
Eleven two-year toxicity/carcinogenicity experiments in control Wistar TNO/W.70 rats were started between 1973 and 1976. Tumors occurring were compiled on the basis of histopathological reports. Of the 1,000 male and 1,000 female rats at the beginning of the studies, 962 males and 968 females were evaluated. The remaining animals were unavailable due to autolysis or early death (before day 400). The histopathologic diagnosis for the eleven reports were performed by five different pathologists or groups of pathologists. A total of 827 tumors (375 in males and 452 in females) was seen in 686 rats (303 males, 383 females). 183 tumors (67 in males, 116 in females) were classified as malignant. 719 (86.9%) of all tumors and 120 (65.6%) of all malignant tumors were located in endocrine organs (pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, pancreatic islets) or in genital organs (testes, epididymides, seminal vesicles, ovaries, uterus, mammary gland). Average incidences of primary tumors found in the following organs were: pituitary 20.0%, thyroid 9.6%, uterus 9.2%, adrenals 4.1%, mamma 3.2%, testes 2.9%, ovaries 1.8%, skin 1.4% and 17 other organs each with a tumor frequency below 1%. This wide spectrum of spontaneous tumors with a mostly low incidence makes the Wistar rat a preferred strain for carcinogenicity studies. Despite nearly identical husbandry conditions, a marked variability was observed among experiments regarding the general incidence of benign and/or malignant tumors, particular tumors, and number of tumor-bearing animals. Differences in mortality among experiments had no pronounced effect on the variability of tumor incidences. Different evaluation criteria used by different pathologists did not appear to be a major cause of the observed variability with the probable exception of lesions in endocrine organs. The major cause would seem to be the biological variability of the animal material. The observed marked variability of tumor incidences between experiments would indicate that a considerable natural variability may also occur between groups of one carcinogenicity study. Therefore, information on historical control tumor data from the same rat strain kept under similar conditions is needed to interpret the incidences of tumors in carcinogenicity experiments.