Malignant fibrous histiocytoma induced by intra-articular injection of 9,10-dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene in the rat. Pathological and enzyme histochemical studies.

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) was produced by injection of 9,10-dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene (DMBA) into the rat knee joint. The tumor was observed in or around the knee in nearly all the animals 13 to 36 weeks after the initial DMBA administration. Histologically, these lesions were of the storiform-pleomorphic type (39/58, 67.2%), myxoid type (9/58, 15.5%), or giant cell type (8/58, 13.8%). Six cell types reported in human MFH were confirmed and phagocytosis of 0.81-micron latex particles by histiocyte-like cells was noted by electron microscopic examination. Acid phosphatase, beta-glucuronidase, and alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase were positive in enzyme histochemical examinations. Acid phosphatase activity was electron microscopically noted primarily in the lysosomes and the Golgi apparatus of the histiocyte-like cells. Cells from the storiform-pleomorphic (M1) and myxoid (M2) type tumors were serially transplanted subcutaneously in the back of the rats, and are now at the thirtieth and fortieth passage, respectively. They also were studied by enzyme histochemical and electron microscopic techniques. Our observations suggested an undifferentiated mesenchymal cell origin of MFH. Transplantable MFH can be produced in rats by intra-articular injection of DMBA, and lesions thus produced are a useful experimental model for the investigation of the histogenesis and the effect of chemotherapy of MFH.