The morphologic and biologic patterns of chemically induced pancreatic adenocarcinoma in Syrian golden hamsters after homologous transplantation.

A pancreatic adenocarcinoma induced by N-nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)amine in the Syrian golden hamster was successfully transplanted to a homologous host by subcutaneous inoculation through 10 successive passages. The rate of 'tumor take' increased progressively with each generation from 60% to 100%, and the latency period after inoculation was reduced simultaneously from 6 weeks to 1 week in the second and following passages. The tumors grew rapidly, ulcerated the overlying skin, and metastasized to the regional lymph nodes and lungs. The animals usually died with multiple lung metastases between the 5th and 20th weeks. All transplanted tumors and their metastases retained the pattern of the original, well-differentiated adenocarcinomas.