[Effect of hypophysectomy, hypophyseal explants and ACTH on the growth of human melanomas in diffusion chambers].

Under study was the hypophysis influence on the growth of human melanoma explants, cultivated in the abdominal cavity of mice and rats. The heterotransplants growth was compared in intact and hypophysectomized animals exposed to ACTH, and also the effect of the murine hypophysis explanted into the adjacent chamber compartments on the melanoma explants growth was investigated. The growth was assessed by a square area of the explants growth zones. ACTH and the hypophysis explanted were found to render a stimulating effect on the growth of tumor heterotransplants. Hypophysectomy in rats would suppress the growth of all melanoma explants under investigation. When injecting ACTH into hypophysectomized animals the growth of melanoma heterotransplants in the chambers does not differ from that in control series.