TRANSPLANTABILITY OF TISSUES TO THE EMBRYO OF FOREIGN SPECIES : ITS BEARING ON QUESTIONS OF TISSUE SPECIFICITY AND TUMOR IMMUNITY

Abstract

Inoculation of the Jensen rat sarcoma into the developing chick embryo gives a rapidly growing tumor at the site of inoculation, whether in the membranes or in the body of the chick itself. These tumors by transfer from embryo to embryo can be kept going for as long as forty-six days, and perhaps indefinitely in the foreign species. The rat cells show no morphological change even after a very long dependence. Their biological characters are also retained, as is shown by the fact that the cells when replanted in the rat, after a prolonged sojourn in the chick, will produce a rapidly growing sarcoma of the Jensen type. These rat tissues grown for long periods in the chick show no adaptation to the new species, being destroyed even more rapidly when placed in the adult chicken than cells taken directly from the rat. Morphologically the cells retain a close resemblance to those in the original tumor. Other tissues grown in chick embryo are various embryonic cells from the chicken, mouse, and rat, the Ehrlich sarcoma and chondroma of the mouse, a mammary carcinoma of the mouse, the Flexner-Jobling adenocarcinoma of the rat, and a human sarcoma.