Brain tumors were found in 42 mice from a total study population of 77,410 mice, which included several strains (BALB/c, C3H, C57BL/6, and hybrids of these strains). The brain tumors were classified on the basis of the new World Health Organization classification of human brain tumors. Tumors originated from neuroepithelial and meningeal tissues, blood vessels, and germ cells. The youngest animal with a tumor was 111 days of age. The tumor incidence was low, being 0.054% of the total study population, with 0.067% in controls and 0.052% in treated mice. Lipomas were the most common type of tumor diagnosed, and they were considered to represent hamartomas rather than true neoplasms. There were 27 brain tumors other than lipomas, the majority (16) of which occurred in BALB/c mice, whereas meningeal tumors (6) were confined to C3H and hybrid strains of mice. The morphologic characteristics of each tumor type are presented.

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Until the development of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging there was no nondestructive technique for monitoring the pathologic response to acute spinal cord trauma. The characteristic findings of hemorrhage, necrosis, and edema have been well described in animal models. We used a 1.4-T, animal imaging system to study acute cord contusions in rats. Contusions were induced by means of extradural aneurysm clip compression, and imaging was performed 3-5 hours after injury with short and long spin-echo (SE) sequences. Animals were killed immediately after imaging, and the gross anatomic and histologic findings were correlated with image appearances. On long SE sequences edema appeared as an area of high signal intensity that extended proximal and distal to the site of contusion. At the contusion site there was focal intraparenchymal hemorrhage which had low signal intensity on T2-weighted images, presumably owing to deoxyhemoglobin. MR imaging can be used to assess pathologic changes resulting from acute cord contusion and to aid in differentiating irreversible damage (hemorrhage) from potentially reversible edema.

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