The Cultivation of Tumours in the Fertile Egg, with Special Reference to Associated Ectodermal Lesions of the Chorioallantoic Membrane

Abstract

THE original purpose of this investigation was to study the effects of implanting various tumnours affecting the fowl into the fertile egg.A survey of the literature revealed the rather surprising fact that apart from the Rous I sarcoma (Rous and Murphy, 1911), and a few leucosis cases (Pierce, 1942), no attempt has been made to grow spontaneous neoplasms of the chicken in fertile eggs.There is a high incidence, relative to disease in general, of spontaneous neoplasia in the fowl. Campbell (1945), in a survey extending over five years, found the relative average incidence to be 18'7 per cent in the breeds examined, the minimum and maximum figures for specific breeds being 10-3 per cent and nearly 39 per cent.During this survey a number of chicken tumours were studied which bore a close morphological resemblance to known virus-associated growths. In view ofclaims by various authors (Taylor, 1943; Heilman and Bittner, 1944; Hungate, Snider, Taylor and Thompson, 1945) that mammalian tumours can be easily cultivated in the yolk-sac of the chick embryo, and that a virus-like factor associated with mammary carcinoma of mice has been directly demonstrated by this method, it was thought desirable to apply similar methods to the study of spontaneous chicken tumours.The advantages of using fertile eggs for such cultivation experiments are many. The egg with the developing embryo represents an enclosed stable biological system in which implanted tumours or inoculated viruses can grow under optimum conditions of sterility, controlled temperature and nutritive environment. Also the embryonic membranes quickly provide a vascular bed from which tumour cells can obtain their blood supply. It was argued that if mammalian tumours grow so well in the chick embryo, then turnours derived from autologous tissues should grow at least as well, or perhaps even more readily.One of the disadvantages associated with laboratory animals used for tumour transplantations, etc., is a natural immunity due to the presence of antibody, either resulting from sub-clinical infection, or produced by the animal in response to inoculation with a virus-associated tumour. Also Carr (1943) has shown an immunity to the Rous I sarcoma in a certain strain of chickens which is apparently not due to serum antibodies. Apart frvm the fact that any laboratory animal can only be used for experiments with tumours of that particular species (with * Part of this work was done while the writer was on the staff of the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College, Edinburgh.

Chorioallantoic membrane heterotransplantation of human brain tumors

“…Edema of the embryo, observed by others (Karnofsky et al, 1957; Stevens et al, 1963), was never encountered. On the other hand, nonspecific microscopic changes in the CAM, previously described by others (Campbell, 1949;Leighton, 1967;Metcalf, 1955) were invariably present. The chorionic membrane underwent varying degrees of transformation into stratified squamous epithelium, and ectodermal " pearls " and cell nests were often found in the subjacent mesenchymal layer (Fig.…”

Neoplastic Diseases

“…They reproduce "true to type" in meta static sites, upon transplantation into compatible hosts, in heterologous eyes (78), in developing eggs (79), or in tissue culture. Alterations in structure and behavior occur, of course, usually as "dedifferentiation" toward decreased organization.…”

Interaction of rat tumor cells with blood vessels and lymphatics of the avian chorioallantoic membrane

“…10AS cells show a strong propensity to metastasize via the lymphatics in vivo (Nestl et al, 2001), in contrast to C6 glioma cells, which produce leptomenigeal metastases from intracisternal sites (Herrlinger et al, 1996). Grafting of tumors and tumor cell lines onto the CAM has previously been performed to study the interaction of the tumors with the chorionic epithelium and the blood vessels of the CAM (Armstrong et al, 1982;Brooks et al, 1994;Campbell 1949;Dagg et al, 1956;Kaufman et al, 1956;Mostafa et al, 1980;Murphy 1913;Ossowski and Reich 1980;Papoutsi et al, 2000b;Scher et al, 1976;Schrek and Avery 1937;Stevenson 1918). The fact that the CAM also contains a regular pattern of lymphatics accompanying the blood vessels (Budge, 1887;Oh et al, 1997;Papoutsi et al, 2000a;Wilting et al, 1996) opens the additional possibility of studying interactions of tumors with the lymphatics.…”