Abnormal copper accumulation in non-cancerous and cancerous liver tissues of LEC rats developing hereditary hepatitis and spontaneous hepatoma.
We studied the copper concentrations in the non-cancerous and cancerous liver tissues of LEC rats with hereditary hepatitis and spontaneous hepatoma by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Copper concentration in the non-cancerous livers of 29-month-old male LEC rats was comparable to that in the livers of LEC rats aged 2, 3 and 8 months whose hepatic copper concentrations were more than 40 times those of normal LEA rats. Copper concentration in spontaneously developed hepatocellular carcinomas of the 29-month-old male LEC rats was lower than that in the surrounding non-cancerous liver tissues, but was still more than 39 times that of 8-month-old male LEA rats. These findings suggest that in LEC rats an abnormal copper metabolism may be maintained during the process of hepatic carcinogenesis.
Li
Y
Y
Laboratory of Pathology, Cancer Institute, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo.
Togashi
Y
Y
Sato
S
S
Emoto
T
T
Kang
J H
JH
Takeichi
N
N
Kobayashi
H
H
Kojima
Y
Y
Une
Y
Y
Uchino
J
J
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006520:Hepatitis, Animal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D008114:Liver Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
D003300:Copper