Electron microscopy of plasma-cell tumors of the mouse. I. MPC-1 and X5563 tumors.

An electron microscope study was made of a series of transplanted MPC-1 plasma-cell tumors carried by BALB/c mice. Large numbers of particles similar in morphology to virus particles were present inside the endoplasmic reticulum of tumor plasma cells. Very few particles were seen outside the cells or in ultracentrifuged preparations of the plasma or ascites fluid. In very early tumors particles were occasionally seen free in the cytoplasm adjacent to finely granular material. In general, the distribution of these particles inside endoplasmic reticulum is similar in early and late tumors. A few transplanted X5563 tumors of C3H mice were also examined. Large numbers of particles were found in the region of the Golgi apparatus in late X5663 tumors. A newly described cytoplasmic structure of plasma cells, here called a "granular body," appears to be associated with the formation of the particles. Particles present in MPC-1 tumors are exclusively of a doughnut form, whereas some of those in the inclusions of the late X5563 tumors show a dense center. Normal plasma cells, produced by inoculation of a modified Freund adjuvant into BALB/c mice. have been compared morphologically with tumor plasma cells of both tumor lines.