Neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions in aging Slc: Wistar rats.

Spontaneous neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions in 98 male and 100 female Slc: Wistar rats, which have been widely used in Japan for toxicological studies, were examined. As spontaneous tumors, the most frequent tumors in males were testicular interstitial cell tumors, followed by tumors of the hematopoietic organs, adrenal gland, thyroid gland, preputial gland, pituitary gland, liver and mammary gland. Those in females were tumors of the pituitary gland, mammary gland, hematopoietic organs, uterus and thyroid gland. The organ distribution and histological types of spontaneous tumors observed in Slc: Wistar rats were very similar to those in F-344/DuCrj rats, although the incidences of some tumors differed slightly in the two strains. Various non-neoplastic lesions were also observed in the heart, kidney, liver and many other organs. These results should be useful in evaluating the results of toxicological and carcinogenic studies on this strain of rat.