Comparative Study of Experimental Ocular Melanoma Using Two Implantation Techniques of B16-F10 Melanocytes

Objective: The aim of this work was to evaluate the behaviour of B16-F10 melanoma cell cultures implanted in the anterior chamber of the eye of New Zealand white rabbits by studying the clinical-pathological and ultrastructural characteristics of the lesions. Methods: One group (A) (consisting of 30 rabbits) was transclerally inoculated (1 mm from sclero-corneal limbus) with 4×10⁶ melanocytes and another group (B) (also 30 animals) was inoculated once per week for 3 consecutive weeks with 5×10⁶ cells (total 15×10⁶); 30 animals acted as the control group (C). All the lesions were processed for optic and electronic microscopy. Results: Tumoral growth in group A was 43% (13/30) and in group B 80% (24/30). All lesions were pigmented and none perforated the eyeball. Microscopically, they were a mixture of epithelioid and fusiform cells disposed around the blood vessels. Ultrastructurally, the presence of melanosomes in different stages of maturation and aberrant melanosomes were characteristic. Conclusion: We suggest that the transcleral inoculation of 15×10⁶ B16-F10 melanocytes into the anterior chamber of the eye of New Zealand white rabbits may be a valid and reproducible method for obtaining an experimental ocular melanoma model.     

Chromosome numbers and geographic distribution of Ulex gallii and U. minor (Leguminosae)

FERNANDEZ PRIETO, J. A., NAVA, H. S., VERA, M. L., ALVAREZ MARTINEZ, M. J., DIAZ, T. E., FERNANDEZ CASADO, M. A., FERNANDEZ-CARVAJAL, M. C. & GUTIERREZ VILLARIAS, M. I., 1993. Chromosome numbers and geographic distribution of Ulex gallii and U. minor (Leguminosae). Chromosome numbers from 188 samples of the Ulex gr. gallii-minor from Portugal, Spain, France and Great Britain are reported. The gametic and somatic chromosome numbers are n = 16 and In = 32, respectively, in all samples of U. minor. Three levels of ploidy (diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid) have been detected in samples of U. galli, sensu lata from N Spain. In samples from Brittany and Great Britain, only the tetraploid level has been found. New data are compared with all previous reports for the species of this group of gorses.