Morphological and biological characterization of two mesenchymal murine tumors and the modulation of their growth parameters by n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids

Certain tumor growth parameters (GP) of two mesenchymal transplantable tumo rs maintained on C57BL/6J mice were characterized. Considering that many ex perimental, clinical and epidemiologic data have indicated that n-3 and n-6 essential fatty acids are nutrients which may delay the development as wel l as improve the course of cancer, GPs were evaluated on hosts fed on a sem isynthetic formula containing 5% of corn oil (CO) or cod liver oil (CLO) an d stock diet (C group). Although survival and latency time of tumor-bearing mice were shortened, other GP as percentage of successful implants were im proved by both oils in sarcoma-bearing hosts, suggesting that n-3 and n-6 f atty acids might play a modulating role for the development of these tumors .