Effect of estradiol and progesterone on the adenylate cyclase activity in grafts of 3-methylcholanthrene induced carcinomas in the mouse uterine cervix.

Grafts from a methylcholanthrene induced mouse uterine cervical carcinoma (NMRI mice) were grown in neonatal female mouse hosts. The hosts were treated for 12 days with estradiol and progesterone alone or in combination. Controls were injected with the solvent (olive oil) only. Pieces from every graft were used for histological study, for study of the proliferation rate and for study of the adenylate cyclase activity in homogenate. All the grafts were well differentiated squamous carcinomas and the histological picture was the same irrespective of hormonal treatment. The proliferation rate was the same in control grafts as in those from hosts treated with hormones. Grafts from progesterone and progesterone/estradiol injected hosts had significantly higher levels of adenylate cyclase activity compared with grafts from control hosts. Estradiol alone resulted in a trend towards increased activity but the difference to controls was not statistically significant.