Iron exclusion by proliferative foci and neoplastic lesions induced by 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene in the rat adrenal cortex.

Proliferative and neoplastic adrenal cortical lesions were produced in female Sprague-Dawley rats by 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene. These lesions were studied for their ability to store histochemically demonstrable cellular iron compared with normal adrenocortical cells following iron loading by subcutaneous injection of iron-dextran. Stainable iron was excluded, under conditions in which normal cortical cells were heavily loaded with iron, in three histological types of adrenal cortical lesions; eosinophilic and basophilic proliferative foci; adenomas and lesions transitional between foci and tumours. The property of iron exclusion may be useful in studying neoplastic development in the adrenal gland.