An Experimental Model for Cancer of the Colon and Rectum

1,2-Dimethylhydrazine(DMH) was administered s.c. to a group of 20 inbred BD-IX rats at the dose of 15 mg/kg body weight, weekly for 7 months. Intestinal adenocarcinoma have been found in all of the treated animals, often associated with hyperplastic or dysplastic lesions. The intestinal cancers gave metastases in 14 animals. The low incidence of extra-intestinal malignancies, the relatively short induction time, the similarity to human colorectal adenocarcinoma, make the DMH-induced intestinal cancer a highly effective experimental model.