Experimental colonic cancer in a dog.

Experimental colonic carcinoma in a dog was induced by anal insertion of an N-ethyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (ENNG) suppository (each cone containing 50 mg of ENNG) for 17 months. The dog was autopsied 20 months after the initiation insertion of the suppository. Grossly, the colonic wall from the anus of the 10-cm oral side of the colon was thickened, and there was an infiltrating tumor with shallow depressions in the rough mucosa. The lymph node around this portion were enlarged, and white spots were found in the liver and redness in the lungs. Histological examination of the colon revealed a variety of pathologic features, e.g., undifferentiated carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma in the region adjacent to the anus. Well and moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas involving the proper muscle layer were found in a region oral to these tumors and were accompanied by marked invasion of the blood vessels and lymphatic permeation. There were metastases to the liver, lungs and lymph nodes which corresponded to the gross findings, and also metastases to renal glomeruli. A well differentiated adenocarcinoma and signet ring cell carcinoma were evident in the gastric mucosa. This experimental model should be useful for studies related to colonic carcinoma in humans.