[Increased mitotic index of hepatocytes in extrahepatic tumors as a feature of the paraneoplastic syndrome].

The mitotic index of the hepatocytes is increased 1.7-3.9 fold in rats with Walker and Jensen tumours and in mice with subcutaneous or intraperitoneal Ehrlich tumours. At the same time however, he mitotic activity of the corneal and duodenal epithelia is not changed. So the changes are not found in all organs and tissues. They are relatively specific as to the organism. They are observed to result from different tumours for different species. These results are interpreted as a paraneoplastic effect due to the metabolic requirements of growth processes and their sequels, because the mitotic index is also increased in the hepatocytes of pregnant mice and rats.