Cell-kinetic analysis of pancreatic cancers in Syrian golden hamsters

Cell-kinetic analysis of pancreatic cancers using bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was performed on four transplantable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, which were experimentally induced by givingN-nitrosobis (2-hydroxypropyl) amine (BHP) to Syrian golden hamsters. The volume-doubling time (Td)of the tumor was 0.43, 1.03, 2.30, and 3.50 d for tumor lines J, D, B, and F, respectively. In the pulse-labeling study, the labeling index was 15.8, 23.3, 27.9, and 31.7, respectively. The most rapidly growing tumor line, J, unexpectedly showed the lowest BrdU-labeling index (LI). The further study of tumor using the cumulative-labeling method revealed that the duration of S phase (Ts), the generation time (Tg) and the growth fraction (GF) were 2 h, 14 h, and 90% for tumor J and 12 h, 37 h, and 85% for slowly growing tumor B, respectively. Cells of limited life span (CLLS) of these lines did not differ from each other.