RES-macrophage stimulation and liver tumour growth in rats; evaluation with dynamic liver RES scintigraphy.

Dynamic liver RES scintigraphy with Nanocoll (99Tcm albumin colloid - 50 nm diameter) assessing RES-macrophage phagocytic function was performed in 40 control, 73 RES-stimulated non-tumour-bearing and 59 tumour-bearing Wistar/FU rats in vivo. Tumour-bearing rats were inoculated with 10(6) x 1.0 cells of a syngeneic nitrosoguanidine-induced colonic carcinoma in the liver. Twenty-eight of these rats had been treated one day previously with Zymosan (3 mg x 100 g-1 i v) as a RES stimulant. The clearance/uptake rate (k) of Nanocoll was calculated from dynamic liver images by the slope in the plot 1n [1 - U(t)/U] versus t where t is time and U liver uptake. k-value in control animals was 0.45 +/- 0.01.10(-2) x s-1 Zymosan injection in non-tumour-bearing rats caused stati-stically significant higher clearance/uptake rate on day 1, through 8 after treatment compared to that of controls. On day 8 k-value was 0.64 +/- 0.04. In tumour-bearing rats the uptake rate (k) was on day 8 0.66 +/- 0.03, while in RES-stimulated tumour-bearing rats it was 0.64 +/- 0.03. Survival was 22 +/- 1 days in tumour bearing rats and 37 +/- 4 days in RES stimulated tumour-bearing rats. The average tumour volume after one week was 132 +/- 24 mm3 in non-stimulated rats and 20 +/- 5 mm3 in RES stimulated rats. There was a negative correlation between uptake rate and tumour volume and a positive correlation between uptake rate and survival on day 8 in non-stimulated tumour-bearing rats. Dynamic liver RES scintigraphy with small size 99Tcm albumin colloid (Nanocoll) can be used to measure RES phagocytic function and the effect of liver tumour growth on RES.