Late effects in the vaginal and cervical epithelia after injections of diethylstilbestrol into neonatal mice.

Diethylstilbestrol, 5 mug per day for the first 5 days after birth, was injected into neonatal female NMRI mice. The animals were killed 13 months after birth. The upper vaginal part and the uterine cervix were serially sectioned. The histologic study showed extensive adenosis comprising most of the cervical wall. In some regions the glandular epithelium had undergone epidermatization. There were suggestive evidences of cancerous development from both the glandular epithelium and the epithelium in the epidermized regions. In the vaginal part, the squamous epithelium showed hyperplasia, but there were also glandular ducts penetrating far into the subepithelial tissue.