title: Virus-induced animal model of osteosarcoma in the rat: Morphologic and biochemical studies.
abstract: Osteosarcomas were produced by the intratibial inoculation of New Zealand black rats with Moloney sarcoma virus (MSV) at 1 day and 4 days of age. Radiographic evidence of osteosarcoma development was first demonstrated at 10 to 15 days postinoculation in both groups. Subsequent radiographic and light and electron microscopic evaluation of tumor-bearing rats demonstrated that osteosarcomas in rats inoculated at Day 4 of age were more osteoproliferative osteosarcomas than those in rats inoculated on Day 1. Rats inoculated at 4 days of age lived longer, had more slowly growing osteosarcomas, and developed a consistent tumor-associated cachexia compared to tumor-bearing rats inoculated at Day 1. Both groups of rats had a 93% metastasis rate involving either sublumbar lymph nodes, lungs, or both. Tumor-bearing rats inoculated at 4 days of age had consistent elevations in both urinary hydroxyproline excretion (HOP/CR) and serum alkaline phosphatase levels, and in serum calcium levels at some time points. The high tumor incidence after a short latent period and the morphologic and biochemical similarities between the MSV-induced murine osteosarcoma and the osteosarcoma in human beings makes this discrete tumor and a valuable animal model for the evaluation of new therapeutic regimens.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000473:pathology; D002100:Cachexia / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D009053:Sarcoma Viruses, Murine / Q000472:pathogenicity; D012513:Sarcoma, Experimental / Q000382:microbiology*