[Effect of deoxycytidine on the efficacy of cytosine arabinoside in BALB/C mice with Rauscher erythroblastic leukemia].

Intraperitoneal administration of cytosine arabinoside (araC) in a dose of 160 mg/kg/day for two days to BALB/c female mice with the advanced Rauscher erythroblastic leukemia led to a 6 fold decrease in the spleen weight and changed the spleen cytological content towards normal on the third day after therapy discontinuation. However, advanced lethal toxicity that developed at the same time resulted in the death of mice. Simultaneous administration of araC and deoxycytidine (CdR) per os in doses 3 times as high as doses of araC decreased the antitumor and toxic effects of araC. CdR protected the neoplastic erythropoietic cells rather than lymphoid cells against the toxic effect of araC.