Mammary cancer induction by 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene: relation to age.

Mammary glands were transplanted from donors treated with 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene to untreated isologous recipients. Incidence of mammary tumors in mammary grafts from 56-day-old donors was significantly higher than that in grafts from 120-day-old donors, regardless of the age of the recipient hosts. Whent mammary glands were transplanted from untreated donors to isologous recipients that subsequently received 7,12-dimethyl-benz(a)anthracene, a similar difference in tumor incidence in the grafts was observed. In contrast to mammary glands of older females, mammary glands of young adult female rats are highly vulnerable to the carcinogenic effect of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene.