The cellular reaction in normal and tumour-bearing mice following intraperitoneal glucan injection.

The effect of a single intraperitoneal injection of yeast glucain in C3D2 mice was studied. The optimal dose for the induction of a cellular exudate was 0.4 mg/kg, producing 17.6 x 10(6) cells on day 7 after injection. The number of T-cells, B-cells and macrophages in this exudate was analysed by the use of morphology, immunofluorescence and the non-specific esterase staining. An increase in both T-cells, B-cells and macrophages was found after glucain injection. There was an 8-fold increase in macrophages, but the increase lasted only 14 days. The increase in T-cells was smaller, but lasted at least 35 days. The effect of pretreatment with glucan on the development of an inoculated syngeneic methyl cholanthrene induced sarcoma was studied. No effect on tumour take could be demonstrated, but differences in T-cell, B-cell and macrophage content of the developing tumour were found. A strinking feature was a prolonged increase in tumour T-cell content.