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Tumours of the Nervous System in Mice treated Neonatally with N-Ethyl-N-nitrosourea

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Abstract

TUMOURS of the nervous system are readily induced in rats by a single transplacental or neonatal exposure to certain chemical carcinogens. This suggests that such tumours in man could well be the result of exposure to chemical carcinogens during foetal or early life. Druckrey et al. have studied nervous system carcinogenesis in rats using the nitrosamide N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea, C2H5N(NO)CONH2 (ENU), administered both transplacentally1,2 and to newborn or very young animals3. Our own experiments with ENU administered to day-old rats4 agreed with these results in that a single 10 mg kg−1 dose was sufficient to induce neural tumours in nearly 100% of treated animals, but differed in that in our rats a much higher proportion of tumours occurred in the brain rather than in the peripheral nervous system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cancer Studies, University of Birmingham, The Medical School, Birmingham, B15 2TJ

    C. E. SEARLE

  2. Department of Pathology, University of Birmingham, The Medical School, Birmingham, B15 2TJ

    E. L. JONES

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  1. C. E. SEARLE
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  2. E. L. JONES
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SEARLE, C., JONES, E. Tumours of the Nervous System in Mice treated Neonatally with N-Ethyl-N-nitrosourea. Nature 240, 559–560 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/240559a0

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