A TRANSPLANTABLE NEW GROWTH OF THE FOWL, PRODUCING CARTILAGE AND BONE

An osteochondrosarcoma of the common fowl, designated in this laboratory as Chicken Tumor VII, has been successfully transplanted to seven successive series of hosts. The original growth contained bone and cartilage, was attached to the sternal keel of an otherwise healthy chicken, and appeared to have arisen from this structure. In the growths derived from its transplantation cartilage is regularly laid down, followed later by bone in case the host lives long enough. The prechondral tissue consists of spindle-shaped or multipolar cells of the fibroblast type. The histological character and the behavior of this prechondral tissue show that it is sarcomatous, a fact further proven by one recent case in which the tumor has metastasized. The secondary growth in this instance consisted of prechondral tissue in which a cartilaginous change was taking place. The tumor could not be transferred to pigeons, the one foreign species tested, but grew readily in chickens of two alien breeds. Reinoculation experiments suggest the occurrence of a natural, individual immunity, and of a certain degree of acquired resistance. In one fowl visceral growths developed following an intravenous injection of tumor emulsion, although whether they were due to this cause or were secondary to the large implantation growths in the muscles is uncertain. Recently the tumor has been transmitted by means of the filtrate from a Berkefeld filter.