Dirt has three cooperative agreements with universities to study the effects of corn oil administration on the exocrine pancreas of the rat. Part of their studies would require that rats be gavaged with corn oil for up to two years to produce hyperplasia and adenomas in F344 rats. Since most universities do not have the capability for repeated long term gavage in rodents, DTRT set up a contract with EG&G Mason to gavage 150 F344 rats with 10 mi. corn oil/kg5 days a week for 100 weeks. In order to determine the number, size and transplantability of exocrine pancreas lesions in male F344 rats that have received corn oil by gavage for 75- 100 weeks, the rats were necropsied, the pancreas weighed, nodules counted and portions of nodules transplanted to young male F344 recipients (one nodule/four recipients). If lesions are found, they will be transplanted into four recipients for up to ten lesions and at three months the recipients will be killed and examined. If growth is seen, one more three-month transplant. The ability to transplant part of a nodule and have histology on the rest may help validate our current classification scheme. The results indicate there is little or no growth on transplantation to the kidney capsule.
