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The components and variations of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) in the growth of transplantable tumors derived from a spontaneous mouse mammary tumor were investigated. A 45-week-old ddY female mouse, obtained from Shizuoka Laboratory Animal Center, was found to have a bean-sized mass at the third mammary gland of the left side. The tumor mass was surgically excised and used for transplantation in the present study. This mammary tumor was histologically found to be Type B-adenocarcinoma. Transplantable mammary tumors consisted of the fibrous or edematous interstitium contained a large amount of GAG components, which was mainly hyaluronic acid (HA), dermatan sulfate (DS) and chondroitin sulfate A/C (ChS). In the analysis of GAG components, HA content was present in a large amount in logarithmic growth phase of transplanted mammary tumors, but it was markedly decreased in stationary phase. On the other hand, the contents of DS and ChS increased in stationary phase of the tumor growth, and these increases corresponded, histologically, with the propagation of the fibrous interstitial tissues.

Histochemical studies were performed on glycosaminoglycan (GAG) components in Wilms tumors of rats and rabbits and fetal kidneys of rats. 1. Wilms tumors. The interstitial components had an intense stainability with Alcian blue, and digestion test with hyaluronidase and chondroitinase was intensely positive. The epithelial tumor cells, showing a tubular pattern, were also stained with Alcian blue. The enzyme-digestion test was positive in the basal portion of the tumor cells, whereas it was negative in the free surface of the cells. 2. Rat kidneys. In fetal rats, the epithelial cells as well as the interstitial components were stained with Alcian blue, and the enzyme-digestion test was intensely positive. However, in adult rats, Alcian blue-stainability in the free surface of the tubular epithelium was not abolished by treatment with hyaluronidase and chondroitinase. The substance in the free surface seemed to be consisted mainly of heparan sulfate. Although the physiological significance of GAG in the cell surface cannot be deduced, it is quite conceivable that GAG, especially heparan sulfate, plays an important role in fluid absorption and transportation.

Histopathological observations were made on the spontaneous age-related kidney lesion in relation to some biochemical measurements for renal function using male SD rats from 82 to 560 days of age. Although all the rats examined were appearently healthy and had no gross lesions in the kidneys, several renal changes were detected histopathologically in the kidneys. The lesions occurred initially in renal tubules and then in glomerulus and in interstitial tissues successively increasing in severity with age. There was a correlation between the degree of the histopatholigical changes and the excreted amount of protein and sodium in the urine. The urinary protein was first detected at 34 days of age increasing with age. For rats of over 395 days of age, the urinary protein was greatly variable in amount among individuals. The negative correlation between urinary protein levels and those of serum albumin and urinary potassium was significant.