An experimental mouse testicular teratoma as a model for neuroepithelial neoplasia and differentiation. I. Light microscopic and tissue and organ culture observations.
The various stages of divergent neuroepithelial differentiation were studied in the solid transplants of a transplantable mouse testicular teratoma (OTT-6050) maintained in both ascitic and solid forms. They included: a) areas of undifferentiated medullary epithelium corresponding to the rare human medulloepithelioma; b) areas of neuroblastic differentiation corresponding to neuroblastoma, with more mature neuronal differentiation corresponding to ganglioneuroma or, when mixed with glial elements, to ganglioglioma; and c) more mature neuroglial areas resembling astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma or ependymoma, as well as more primitive areas corresponding to ependymoblastoma. In tissue culture using collagen-coated coverslips, astrocytic differentiation was found in the outgrowth zone after 15 days, confirmed by immunofluorescence with antibodies to an astroglia-specific protein. In organ culture systems, glial components, including ependymal structures, were preserved in tumor explants, and astrocytic differentiation, as expressed by glial fiber formation, was increased after 4 to 6 weeks in vitro. No neuronal differentiation was demonstrable, however. The neuroepithelial component of this experimental teratoma may provide a model for the study of neoplastic neuroepithelial differentiation.
D000818:Animals; D001202:Ascitic Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003470:Culture Media; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004806:Ependymoma / Q000473:pathology; D005729:Ganglioneuroma / Q000473:pathology; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D008297:Male; D008527:Medulloblastoma / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008938:Mitosis; D009336:Necrosis; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009380:Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue / Q000473:pathology*; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000473:pathology; D018241:Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive, Peripheral / Q000473:pathology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D013724:Teratoma / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D003470:Culture Media