Ultrastructural findings in so-called ependymal rat tumors induced by transplacental administration of ethylnitrosourea (ENU)

Summary

Tumors of the central nervous system (CNS) in Sprague-Dawley and Lewis rats were induced transplacentally by a single intraperitoneal (IP) injection of 10–25 mg/kg ethylnitrosourea (ENU) on days 16–20 of gestation. Light-microscopic examination revealed that 22% of these tumors could be diagnosed as ependymomas, anaplastic ependymomas (ependymoblastomas), or mixed tumors revealing both oligodendroglioma and anaplastic ependymoma tissues if the criteria of accepted classifications were followed. Electron-microscopic examination, however, demonstrated that the ependymoma and the anaplastic ependymoma-like tissue in ENU-induced tumors lacked ependymal features, such as basal bodies, cilia, complicated junctional complexes, microvilli, etc. This tissue type was repetitious, always being composed of cells arranged in groups, cords, and rosette-like (pseudorosette) formations. In the pseudorosettes, the cell nuclei were polarized at the periphery and the cytoplasm contained numerous polyribosomes, occasional short microtubules and usually a few small dense-core vesicles. The center of the pseudorosettes showed numerous slender interdigitating processes interconnected by maculae adherens. The tips of these processes showed vesicular degeneration. The cells arranged in groups or cords and perivascular rosettes revealed identical ultrastructure, but they were not polarized. The present findings indicate that the socalled ENU-induced ependymomas and anaplastic ependymomas are not true ependymal tumors, but rather primitive neuroepithelial neoplasms with some features of oligodendroglioma.