Effect of Ehrlich ascites tumour on the clinical course and pathology of mice having carbon tetrachloride-induced hepato-renal necrosis.

Ehrlich ascites tumour, administered intraperitoneally 18 hr following a dose of CCl4 by stomach tube, produces and irreversible illness characterised by failure to resolve extensive hepato-renal necrosis. Equally extensive hepato-renal necrosis occurs in animals given CCl4 and saline; such animals, however, remain clinically well and show rapid histological regeneration of both organs. Carbon tetrachloride given to mice on day 5 of tumour growth produces hepatic necrosis only, the kidney of such animals being immune to the necrotising effect of CCl4. Such animals remain well, and histological recovery of the liver is rapid. It is proposed that the Ehrlich tumour produces a "regeneration-inhibiting" toxin, active against the damaged liver and kidney; the CCl4-damaged kidney fails to excrete this toxin, hence the irreversibility of hepato-renal damage and a fatal outcome. A marked reduction of ascites volume as compared with controls was observed in those animals given Ehrlich tumour 18 hr after CCl4, but not in animals given CCl4 on day 5 of Ehrlich ascites tumour growth.