metrizamide and Lung-Neoplasms

Metrizamide has been used for examination of the gastrointestinal tract and tracheobronchial tree of infants. Contrast agents may enter the lungs during such examinations. The current study was undertaken to determine whether there would be any later pulmonary effects when metrizamide was administered to the lungs of weanling mice.. One hundred fifty mice (18-21 days old), divided into groups, received either 75 microL of metrizamide, using the manufacturer's diluent (190 mg iodine [I]/mL), or saline solution administered to the lungs by injection into the trachea. The mice were observed for the duration of their lives. Moribund animals were killed. At death, all animals underwent necropsy. The lungs were fixed in formalin, and histologic sections were examined for pathologic changes.. The incidence of lung tumors was increased (P less than .05) in the lungs of mice receiving metrizamide compared with those receiving saline. Eighteen percent of the lung tumors in the metrizamide-treated mice were lymphomas, a histologic type not found in the saline-treated controls.. A hypothesis proposing that metrizamide may be an initiator of carcinogenic transformation rather than a carcinogen was developed.

Topics: Adenocarcinoma; Animals; Bronchi; Female; Lung Neoplasms; Lymphoma; Metrizamide; Mice; Mice, Inbred ICR

Twenty patients suspected of meningeal carcinomatosis (MC) secondary to small cell carcinoma of the lung were evaluated by myelography and by cytologic examination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In 4 patients both investigations demonstrated MC. Four had positive cytology but a negative myelogram. Five patients had a positive myelogram but negative cytology. Thus 13 of the 20 patients had MC diagnosed by one or both of these investigations. Two additional patients suspected of MC were studied; both had positive myelography, but cytologic examination of CSF was not performed in either case. Six patients underwent autopsy with microscopic examination of the spinal cord; in all cases post-mortem findings supported myelographic findings. In conclusion, myelography is useful in the evaluation of patients suspected of MC secondary to small carcinoma of the lung and complements the diagnostic role of CSF examination.

Topics: Carcinoma, Small Cell; Diagnosis, Differential; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Meningeal Neoplasms; Metrizamide; Myelography

A one-step isopycnic density gradient centrifugation procedure is described for purification of highly viable and homogeneous tumor cells from a variety of solid mouse tumors. Mechanically suspended cells are layered onto preformed continuous gradients of medium 199-buffered 7--33% metrizamide (density range 1.05--1.20 g/cu. cm) isoosmotic with mouse plasma and centrifuged for 30 min. Large numbers of tumor cells, generally 85--95% viable and free from 80--95% of contaminating host lymphoid and phagocytic cells and erythrocytes, were consistently recovered from fractionated thymomas, melanomas, and fibrosarcomas. By a variety of criteria, cell surface and other biological properties of gradient-purified tumor cells were normal.

Topics: Animals; Cell Separation; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; Centrifugation, Density Gradient; Female; Fibrosarcoma; Lung Neoplasms; Lymphocytes; Melanoma; Metrizamide; Mice; Mice, Inbred AKR; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Neoplasm Transplantation; Neoplasms, Experimental; Phagocytes; Thymoma