The effect of 13-cis-retinoic acid on dibutylnitrosamine induced polyploidy changes in mouse urothelium.

The epithelium in the normal urinary bladder contains cells with diploid to octoploid DNA-content. The carcinogen dibutylnitrosamine (DBN), given subcutaneously in repeated doses causes a loss of polyploidy prior to cancer development. In this study the changes in polyploidy caused by DBN was followed by use of flow cytometry. 13-cis-retinoic acid did not prevent this loss of polyploidy, and did not affect the polyploidy in the normal urothelium.