Morphological and immunohistochemical characteristics of dimethylnitrosamine-induced malignant mesenchymal renal tumor in F-344 rats.

Mesenchymal renal tumors in F-344 newborn rats were induced by a single dose of dimethylnitrosamine. The induced tumors were successfully transplanted into adult rats under the renal capsule. Neither the primary nor the transplanted neoplasms from various generations of grafts changed their morphological features during the tumor passage, having the same cellularity with high mitotic activity and the tendency to invade the host kidney rapidly. On the basis of lectin histochemistry and immunohistology, the tumor proved to be a mesenchymal neoplasm without any obvious capacity of the proliferating cells to differentiate into any well-known organoid element normally found in mature renal parenchyma. However, the proliferating neoplastic cells were found to have a strong vimentin positivity with desmin expression. Ultrastructurally, myofilaments with attachment bodies characteristic of smooth muscle cells were generally present in various amounts in many tumor cells. In addition, on the basis of the physiological data and on kidney/tumor renin activity obtained, it is interesting to note that the tumor-graft-invaded kidneys retained their enzyme activity, despite the obvious loss of renal tissue including glomeruli. However, the immunohistochemical findings with anti-renin antibody have clearly shown that this is not due to a renin-producing tumor but rather to the surviving (probably) non-neoplastic arterioles retaining the capacity to produce renin. Although these arterioles have mostly been found next to necrotic areas, commonly occurring in dimethylnitrosamine-induced transplantable renal tumors, the question of a possible physiological role of renin in tumor necrosis or in angiogenesis has remained open.