The effect of rhodamine-123 on 3 prostate tumors from the rat.

Abstract

Rhodamine-123 (Rh-123) was found to have a specific attraction to the mitochondria of tumor cells. The destruction of rat prostate tumor cells by Rh-123 is described. Tissue was used from rat prostate studies of Rh-123 treatment of R3327-H, PA III prostate tumor of Pollard and the autochthonous tumor in Lobund-Wistar rats. All tissues were fixed in 10% buffered formalin, paraffin embedded and sectioned at 1 to 3 micron. for good cellular detail. Destructive processes were seen in all 3 rat prostate tumor models evaluated. The changes included acinar cell clumping, acinar destruction with scarring, cyst formation within acinar cells and increased stromal cells. Since all tumor models were found to respond to Rh-123 in a similar manner, any of them could be used for the evaluation of anticancer agents. These studies demonstrated that Rh-123 was effective in suppressing the growth of hormone sensitive and insensitive rat prostate tumor cells.