Light and Electron Microscopy of Low and High Malignancy Sublines of a Rat Tumor

Summary

The structure of the ascites and the solid abdominal and subcutaneous tumor forms from high [WBP1(V)] and low [WBP1(A)] malignancy sublines of a rat tumor was described. The three forms differed from each other structurally/but there was no correlation of degree of malignancy with specific cellular structures or with degree of differentiation. The structural differences were probably nonspecific and due to the differing metabolic environments of the three tumor forms, although changes in surface charge may also have been involved. The significance of unusual mitochondrial buds, observed in both host and tumor cells, and of marked structural changes of ascites tumor-associated macrophages were discussed.