PHOSPHORUS METABOLISM IN VIRAL-INDUCED NEOPLASIA: I. STRAINS OF MICE SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE MAMMARY TUMOR VIRUS

Abstract

Studies of phosphorus metabolism, using P32-injected intraperitoneally into mice susceptible to mammary tumor induction by the mammary tumor virus, were conducted at time intervals corresponding to 24, 31, 64 days of age of the animals, and 10 months and older when mammary tumors developed. Chemical and radioactivity measurements of labelled phospholipides, nucleic acids, and phosphoproteins in liver, kidney, spleen, and mammary tissue were obtained from strain A (high-cancer strain) and BALB/c females (low-cancer strain). Both high- and low-cancer strains exhibited uniform patterns of phosphorus metabolism in non-target organs throughout the time periods selected. There are significant differences in phosphorus metabolism between the two strains which may be due to a combination of virus and genetic factors. In strain A females, 10 months and older, bearing mammary tumors, the mammary glands without tumors exhibited increased synthesis of phospholipides and nucleic acids when compared to mammary glands of identical females that had not yet developed mammary tumors.