Histological changes in adrenal glands of tumor-bearing mice injected with Serratia marcescens polysaccharide alone and in combination with adrenal cortical extract.

As has been reported previously by Diller and Shear (6) and by Diller (4), tumor cells of mice injected with a polysaccharide derived by Shear (9) from Serratia marcescens culture filtrate show degenerative responses within 6 hours. At a dose level that produced rapid sloughing of sarcoma 37 in about 1 out of every 4 mice, an equal number of mice usually succumbed to treatment. When adrenal cortical extract was administered simultaneously, the toxic effect of the polysaccharide was measureably reduced (2). This did not interfere with tumor sloughing. Adrenal extracts alone are also capable of producing degenerative changes in sarcoma 37 and sloughing of the tumor, particularly in female mice (1, 5). Injection of S. marcescens polysaccharide in tumor-necrotizing dosage into mice bearing sarcoma 37 was followed in 5 or 6 hours by hemorrhage, not only in the tumors but also in the adrenal glands. The adrenal hemorrhage was accompanied in these glands by destructive cellular changes which were most severe in the medullary region. Milder histological changes occurred in the adrenal glands of mice given polysaccharide plus adrenal cortical extract. The changes are described below.