Increased weight and mitotic activity in the liver of tumor-bearing rats and mice.

E. Yeakel (4) reported on changes in liver weight as compared to body weight in Wistar a! bino rats bearing induced or transplanted tumors. He concluded that the liver weight of the tumor bearing host is increased yet does not show any correlation either to the body weight or to the weight of the tumor. Autopsies carried out in this laboratory on rats and mice bearing spontaneous or grafted tumors showed a relationship between the weight of the tumor and that of the liver/body ratio. Yeakel suggests that the increased size of the liver of the tumor-bearing animal is related to the increased anabolism of proteins induced by the tumor. Histological examinations of the livers of the tu mor-bearing hosts offer an alternative explana tion. PROCEDURE