Muscle cell apoptosis is responsible for the body weight loss in tumor-bearing rabbits.
In order to elucidate the cause of body weight loss in the early stage of tumor progression, morphological changes of striated muscle were investigated in rabbits every 10 days after VX2 carcinoma implantation. The lean body mass started to decrease in the tumor-bearing rabbits 10 days after implantation, and body fat ratio showed a significant decrease from 30 days, different from the starved rabbits, whose lean body mass and body fat ratio started to decrease from 10 days. Morphological hallmarks of apoptosis in muscle cells were detected in tumor-bearing animals prior to the tumor growth but not in starved animals. These findings suggest that muscle cell apoptosis may be responsible for the body weight loss in the early tumor-bearing.
Sumi
T
T
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Osaka City University Medical School, Japan.
Ishiko
O
O
Honda
K
K
Hirai
K
K
Yasui
T
T
Ogita
S
S
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001823:Body Composition; D002100:Cachexia / Q000209:etiology*; D004435:Eating; D009132:Muscles / Q000473:pathology*; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011817:Rabbits; D015431:Weight Loss