Effect of partial hepatectomy on tumor incidence and metabolism of mice fed thioacetamide.

Six-week-old male Swiss mice were given 0.03% thioacetamide (TAA) in the diet 24, 72, and 168 hours after partial hepatectomy. TAA-treated mice from all three groups were killed when they were 4, 9, and 13 months old. Intact and partially hepatectomized animals on normal diets served as controls. None of the controls evidenced neoplasms at any age. All three experimental groups developed liver tumors earlier than did intact mice treated with the TAA diet. Progressive metabolic studies on the livers or tumor tissues of treated mice showed that the levels of glucose-6-phosphatase, fructose-1,6-diphosphatase, and glycogen decreased significantly in the 4-month-old treated group when there was no significant alteration in liver histology. These parameters were lowest in the tumor tissues of treated mice.