Tigroid cell foci and neoplastic nodules in the liver of rats treated with a single dose of aflatoxin B1.

In rats treated orally with a single dose of aflatoxin B1 (5 mg/kg body weight) characteristic focal and nodular liver lesions developed which differed in their fine structure, enzyme histochemical pattern and growth behaviour from other types of carcinogen-induced hepatic foci and nodules described earlier. The foci were composed of a distinct cell population which showed specific structural changes of the cytoplasm. Typically, unusually large and abundant basophilic bodies consisting of highly ordered stacks of cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) were arranged in long, striped bands and stood out against an acidophilic background which was due to hypertrophy of the smooth ER. We propose the descriptive terms 'tigroid cells', and 'tigroid cell foci' for this population of altered hepatocytes. Correlative cytochemical investigations on the tigroid cell foci revealed characteristic changes in carbohydrate metabolism, such as a decrease in the activity of glycogen synthetase and glycogen phosphorylase and an increase in the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. The activity of glucose-6-phosphatase and ATPase was normal (or partially reduced) and that of the gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase was always lacking. A progressive increase in the number and size of the tigroid cell foci and transitions from tigroid cell foci to neoplastic nodules with similar morphological and cytochemical features were observed during the time period of 104 weeks. The mitotic index within tigroid cell foci and nodules was approximately 100 times higher than that of the surrounding hepatic tissue or the liver parenchyma of untreated control animals. The important question whether the tigroid cell foci represent a specific pre-neoplastic or early neoplastic cell population requires further investigations.