Excretion of carcinoma products in irradiated C3H/He mice.

Local low-dose (200 rads) gamma-irradiation to both kidneys impaired the excretion of 3H-labeled tumor products and reduced the survival time of mice carrying carcinomas in the ascites form. Daily i.p. injections of cell-free ascites fluid into tumor-free mice for 3 weeks resulted in the death of 25 of 180 irradiated animals, with no deaths among 180 injected unirradiated controls. The only histologically visible effects of irradiation of the kidneys during ascites tumor growth or during i.p. injections of cell-free ascites fluid was a cloudy swelling of the tubular epithelium in the renal cortex together with excessive protein in the tubular lumens.