Spontaneous diseases in a closed colony of Praomys (Mastomys) natalensis.

In comparison with other rodents, the mastomys is unique as regards the patterns of neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases that it develops, some of which may constitute suitable animal models for corresponding diseases of man. Among the spontaneous diseases commonly encountered in necropsies of 600 mastomys maintained in a closed colony were: (1) degenerative joint disease of diarthroses and interventricular disks, which develops regularly in the second year of life; (2) renal disease, a type of immune-complex glomerulonephritis, affecting approximately 80% of mastomys in the age bracket 18-36 months; (3) thymomas and thymic hyperplasia affecting 30% of mastomys by the time they are 2 years old or older; (4) a combination of thymoma and polymyositis in a mastomys showing serum-globulin reactivity, presumably auto-antibody against striated muscle; (5) beginning before the age of 1 year, replacement of the normal cell population of the lymphoid tissues by plasma cells, and intense plasma cell infiltration at many other organ and tissue sites; (6) haematopoietic neoplasms, without leukaemic blood, in 10% of mastomys; and (7) histamine-producing argyrophilic carcinoid tumours of the glandular stomach in approximately 60% of old male and 30% of old female mastomys. Additionally, other neoplasms not infrequently encountered in mastomys rarely occur in other rodent species; conversely some neoplasms commonly found in other rodents, including especially tumours of the lung and mammary gland and leukaemia, are rare or absent in mastomys.