Potential tumour doubling time: determination of Tpot for various canine and feline tumours.

Spontaneous tumours in dogs and cats are an excellent model for clinical human research, such as in developing proton conformation radiotherapy for humans. The kinetics of tumour cells can be used effectively to predict prognosis and response to therapy in patients with tumours. Knowledge of the kinetic parameters in these tumours is therefore important. In the present study the kinetic parameters evaluated included the labelling index (LI), relative movement (RM), mitotic index (MI), and potential doubling time (Tpot). These parameters were determined using in vivo labelling with bromodeoxyuridine, flow cytometry and histological preparation. Samples were obtained and evaluated from 72 dogs and 20 cats, presenting as patients in our clinic. Within the groups of epithelial and mesenchymal tumours from dogs and cats, the kinetic parameters LI, RM and MI were compared with Tpot. Significant correlations were observed for the comparison Tpot and LI. No correlation was found between Tpot and RM.