The carcinogenic effects of cadmium were tested in an animal experiment to check the results of epidemiological studies showing that the incidence of prostatic carcinoma is above average in workers industrially exposed to high cadmium levels. For this purpose 1.9 mg CdCl2 (1.2 mg Cd/kg body weight) was injected into the right ventral prostatic lobe of 12-month-old male inbred rats of the Okamoto-toki strain. Simple hyperplasia was found in 38, atypical hyperplasia in 29, atypical hyperplasia with severe dysplasia in 11 and invasive prostatic carcinoma in 5 of 100 animals 270 days after the injection. Various mechanisms are discussed in connection with the carcinogenic action of cadmium.

Short term castrated rats were sacrificed at different time intervals after oral administration of tritium labeled TU. Blood and organs were collected and measured for total radioactivity uptake. At the time of peak values of radioactivity the in vivo metabolite pattern was investigated by thin layer chromatography. In vitro studies were performed in plasma, muscle and prostate cytosol. The radioactivity uptake into plasma and prostate in vivo reached a first maximum 2 1/2 h after oral administration of TU. A second peak appeared after 5 h in the prostate. While only 16% of the total plasma radioactivity appeared in the non esterified fraction, the tissues contained 69-71%. In plasma, the bulbocavernosus/levator ani muscle and in the skeletal muscle, free testosterone was the main unesterified androgen (14-28%). Prostate and seminal vesicles contained primarily 5 alpha-DHT (47 and 34%, respectively). Further metabolites were found in the fractions of 17 beta-hydroxy-5 alpha-androstanediols, epiandrosterone, androsterone, 4-androstenedione and 5 alpha-androstanedione. After incubation in vitro with TU, prostate and muscle cytosol contained significant amounts (39% and 17%, respectively) of free androgens. It was concluded that peripheral organs as well as the prostate itself are capable of cleaving the undecanoic ester and that the biological action of TU is exerted by unesterified androgens which occur in a pattern similar to that obtained after i.v. injection of free testosterone.

The prostate epithelium of rats which received repeated cadmium chloride (CdCl2) injections showed a gradual disruption of structural differentiation. Electron microscopy studies revealed severe changes in the ultrastructure affecting all epithelial cell organelles, particularly the nuclei, rough endoplasmatic reticulum, the golgi apparatus, and mitochondria. The cells infiltrating the stroma contained secretory vacuoles and their nuclear evaginations on the invasion front showed similarities to ultrastructural pathological changes in man. Examinations of the ventral prostate following oral CdCl2 administration revealed changes ranging in severity up to dysplasia, but there was no evidence of carcinoma.

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The results of sutureless vascular anastomoses in experimental kidney homotransplantations by means of an angiorrhaphy instrument performed on 21 animals are reported. At the same time, a new type of percutaneous kidney phlebography with an optimum information on the reflux of the blood from the graft was used. The results are substantiated by reno-angiography, percutaneous renal phlebographies, autopsies and histological findings.