Pregnancy stimulates DNA synthesis in R3230AC mammary adenocarcinoma.

The transplantable R3230AC mammary adenocarcinoma was grown in virgin, pregnant and lactating rats and in vivo rates of [3H]-thymidine incorporation into DNA and acid-soluble dTTP were compared between tumor and host mammary glands. The tumor differed from the host gland in that the rates of uptake and phosphorylation of the injected thymidine remained unchanged throughout the lactation cycle, but the dTTP pool increased greatly during pregnancy and declined during lactation. In both tumor and host gland, DNA labeling rates were higher during pregnancy than during lactation. Tumor DNA synthesis rates, in terms of incorporated dTMP, increased markedly during pregnancy and returned to pre-pregnant rates following parturition and during lactation. This pattern was similar to host mammary glands, but the change was of a greater magnitude. The data illustrate the usefulness of growing a transplantable mammary tumor in rats of varying physiological states. This way, similarities and differences between a mammary tumor and the host mammary gland regarding their responses to the hormonal milieu of pregnancy and lactation can be assessed.

Ribonuclease H activity in rat mammary gland during the lactation cycle and in R3230AC mammary adenocarcinoma.

RNAase H, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of the RNA moiety of an RNA-DNA hybrid, was measured in the mammary gland of virgin, pregnant, lactating, and weaning Fischer rats and in the R3230AC mammary tumor grown in the same animals. In the normal mammary gland when DNA levels were low, as in the virgin state or during involution, RNAase H activity was also low. During pregnancy and lactogenesis when DNA levels increased, RNAase H activity, either on the basis of mammary gland weight or DNA content, also increased. During lactation when cellular proliferation ceases but rates of RNA and protein synthesis continue to reach peak values, RNAase H activity decreased. Compared to the corresponding enzyme from host glands, RNAase H from the R3230AC mammary tumor grown in pregnant and lactating hosts changes similarly, but to a lesser extent. The RNAase H activity which, ona tissue weight basis, was higher than in normal tissue also increased during pregnancy and directly after parturition, but decreased during lactation. During pregnancy these changes were accompanied by an increase in tumor DNA values. During lactation the tumor DNA values returned to the level seen in virgin hosts. These results are consistent with a role for RNAase H in DNA replication in rat mammary gland and in R3230Ac mammary tumor.