Spontaneous lesions in the female WAG/Rij (Wistar) rat

article
An awareness of spontaneous lesions occurring in an experimental animal is essential in evaluating long term experiments in that animal; it is especially crucial in gerontological studies. With this in mind, rats from several strains were set aside specifically to determine incidences of various lesions occurring during aging. The female WAG/Rij (Wistar derived) rat was the first animal to be investigated. The rats were allowed to complete their life span, and 290 female WAG/Rij rats had an average life span of 31 mth. (range 11 to 43). In these animals, a total of 519 tumors was seen histologically, almost 80% of which involved the endocrine glands. The most common tumor, adenoma of the pituitary, was found in 69% of all females. Two unusual tumors were a mesothelioma of the pleura, occurring in a 39 mth old rat and an ameloblastic fibro odontoma in the jaw of a 28 mth old rat. Tumors, and not degenerative or infectious lesions, were the main reason for the rat coming to necropsy.
TNO Identifier
227502
ISSN
00221422
Source
Journals of Gerontology, 28(2), pp. 152-159.
Pages
152-159
Files
To receive the publication files, please send an e-mail request to TNO Repository.