Spontaneous diseases as limiting factors in the life expectancy of laboratory rats
Deerberg, F.; Rapp, K.G.; Kaspareit, J.
Deutsche Tierärztliche Wochenschrift 94(2): 53-55
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0341-6593 PMID: 3552559 Document Number: 287968
320 male and female Han:WIST, 270 male and 280 female DA/Han and 200 male and female BDII/Han rats were kept under controlled conditions from weaning to natural death. Mortality rate was low for all strains during the first 15 months of life, but thereafter increased in a variable fashion. The life span of males was 1 year longer than that of females. The primary cause of death in males of all three strains was pituitary gland tumours, as well as glomerulonephrosis in Han:WIST, bladder tumours in DA/Han, and histiocytic sarcomas in BDII/Han rats. In female rats the primary cause of death was endometrial carcinoma and the high incidence of this neoplasm was responsible for the lower life expectancy of female rats.