Summary
Teratocarcinomas were obtained by transplantation of 7 day old mouse egg-cylinders under the kidney capsule of adult isogeneic animals in order to visualize the histogenesis in the teratocarcinomas. The sequence of histochemical changes roughly corresponds to the events taking place in the developing organism. The origin of differentiated tissues could not be traced histochemically because of the changes which occur in the enzyme pattern during differentiation. No “marker” enzymes were found to enable us to link the differentiated tissues with the undifferentiated embryonal carcinoma cells. The latter cells displayed a low activity of oxydative enzymes and virtually no activity of acid hydrolases, but were rich in alkaline phosphatase. Histochemically they are similar to ecto-mesodermal cells of the egg-cylinder from which the teratocarcinomas were derived. In conjunction with previous ultrastructural findings these data indicate that embryonal carcinoma cells are cells which did not differentiate, but proliferate, retaining morphologic and probably some functional characteristics of undifferentiated ecto-mesodermal cells from the early postimplantation stages of development.
Zusammenfassung
Teratocarcinome wurden durch Transplantation von Eicylindern 7 Tage alter Mäuse unter die Nierenkapsel von erwachsenen isogenen Tieren erzeugt, um die Histogenese in den Teratocarcinomen zu verfolgen. Der Ablauf der histochemischen Veränderungen entspricht etwa dem des sich entwickelnden Organismus. Die Herkunft der differenzierten Gewebe konnte wegen der während der Differenzierung sich abspielenden Veränderung des Enzymmusters histochemisch nicht verfolgt werden. „Marker“-Enzyme, die es erlauben würden, die differenzierten Gewebe mit undifferenziertem embryonalen Gewebe in Verbindung zu bringen, konnten nicht gefunden werden. Die embryonalen Zellen zeigten eine geringe Aktivität der oxydativen Enzyme und praktisch keine Aktivität saurer Hydrolasen, waren aber reich an alkalischer Phosphatase. Histochemisch sind sie ähnlich den ecto-mesodermalen Zellen des Eicylinders, von dem das Teratocarcinom abstammte. Zusammen mit früheren elektronenmikroskopischen Feststellungen deuten diese Befunde darauf hin, daß embryonale Carcinomzellen Elemente darstellen, welche sich nicht differenzieren, sondern bei ihrem Wachstum morphologisch und wahrscheinlich auch manche funktionellen Charakteristika undifferenzierter ectodermaler Zellen aus den ersten Entwicklungsstadien beibehalten haben.
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Damjanov, I., Solter, D. & Škreb, N. Enzyme histochemistry of experimental embryo-derived teratocarcinomas. Z. Krebsforsch. 76, 249–256 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00304029
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00304029