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Diagnosis | Uterine leiomyoma

Lab Animal volume 40, pages 16–17 (2011)Cite this article

Chronic fibrous tissue adhesions were observed between the tumors and adjacent organs. The clinical signs, such as constipation and dysuria, observed in each female resulted from both the physical alteration induced by the uterine tumors and an intra-abdominal mass effect on gastrointestinal and urinary bladder function.

In rats, the incidence of uterine proliferative lesions increases with age and, for both mesenchymal and epithelial tumors, varies with hormonal and breeding status1. Endometrial stromal polyps are the most commonly diagnosed neoplasm in the uterus of the rat2. These tumors are typically a benign proliferation of stromal cells that extend into the uterine lumen on either a broad-based or narrow-stalk benign polyp that consists of hyperplastic, cystically dilated glands in a fibrous stroma with large, thick-walled blood vessels2. Usually the increased density of the stromal cells and capillary growth characterize the polyps, which appear to originate from a monoclonal proliferation of mesenchymal tissue. The reported incidence of endometrial polyps varies between rat strains: 2.6% in aged Sprague Dawley rats3; 4.2% (ref. 4) and 22% (ref. 5) in 24-month old Harlan Sprague-Dawley rats; 9.6% in Wistar rats6; 37% in Fischer 344 rats7; and >5% in Fischer 344/DuCrj rats8. Certain strains have a high incidence of spontaneous endometrial neoplasia, such as 24-month-old Sabra rats (78% in retired breeders and 43% in virgin females)9.

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Figure 3: Photomicrograph (40×) of a uterine mass taken from the rat described in case 3 showing compactly to loosely arranged fusiform cells.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dulce Mariely Alvarez-Croda and Daissy Herrera-Covarrubias for their help during histopathology interpretation.

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Diagnosis | Uterine leiomyoma. Lab Anim 40, 16–17 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0111-16

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