Abstract

It is a well known fact that the skin of rats, wit& a few exceptions, refractory to polycyclic hydrocarbons. Hwang and Kim (1971) in our laboratory reported that the early skin reactions of amino rats to dimethylbenzanthracene. Reports concerning the chemically induced tumors have been made clear that large number of them by some investigators were shown to be antigenic and it is suggested that the oncogenesis due to chemical carcinogen may be related to immune mechanism. On the other hand adrenalectomy causes marked proliferation of lymphoid tissues, which are main organs concerning to immune mechanism. Therefore the authors tried to observe the response of adrenalectomized albino rat skin to 3, 7-dimethylbenzanthracene. It was confirmed that the skin reactions in the skin of the adrenalectomized rats painted with 3, 7-dimethylbenzanthracene simultaneously, consisted of a marked atrophy of hair follicles, whereas those of the rats pre- or post- painted, a marked proliferation of hair follicles, proliferation and increased rate of mitotic division of epithelial cells of the hair follicles.