The role of the subependymal plate in avian sarcoma virus brain tumor induction: comparison of incipient tumors in neonatal and adult rats.

F-344 rats were inoculated intracerebrally at 1 and at 133 days of age with the Bratislava-77 strain of avian sarcoma virus. Groups of rats were sequentially sacrificed following inoculation so that early stages of microtumor formation could be evaluated. In neonatally inoculated rats incipient tumors developed in the subependymal region of the lateral ventricles in close juxtaposition to clusters of poorly differentiated germinal cells. Among these animals microtumors were detected as soon as 2 weeks after inoculation; by 4 weeks post-inoculation all rats inoculated at 1 day of age had tumors. In contrast among rats inoculated as adults incipient tumors developed in the cerebral cortex away from the subependymal region but adjacent to the locus of inoculation. Incipient tumors were uncommon in rats inoculated as adults during the first 2 months after inoculation.