Primary cultures of Mannheimia granulomatis were established in chicken embryos to assess their capacity to stimulate fibroblast proliferation. The capacity of the bacterium-activated macrophages to stimulate cytokine and enzyme proliferation was assessed in a mouse peritoneum macrophage culture. To evaluate the bacteria infection on fibroblasts and their growth within 48h in relation to the active macrophages, cultures were washed and trypsinized and the cells counted. Results showed no significant differences when the bacteria-infected fibroblasts were mixed with bacterial extract (P=0.9682). The treatment using just products of macrophages resulted similar to the negative control. Significant differences on cell proliferation were established (P=0,0039) when the products of M. granulomatis-activated macrophages were used, meaning that bacterial components were unable to promote fibroblast increase. Further research is needed to elucidate the effect of M. granulomatis on the macrophages.

Wistar male rats, 3 months of age were given ad-libitum a nutritionally adequate diet and demineralized drinking water. The Molybdenum (Mo) and Tungsten (W) were provided in the drinking water at 200 ppm concentration. Intestinal tumors were induced by 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) given subcuta-neously as 16 weekly doses at 20 mg/kg body weight. Mo in the form of (NH 4 ) 6 Mo 7 O 24 4H 2 O or W in the form of (Na 2 WO 4 ) were provided in the drinking water two months before the first DMH treatment and were continued during 4 months more until the last DMH treatment. Three months after the last carcinogen injec-tion, all animals were sacrificed and examined for intestinal tumors. The number, size and location of the tumors were recorded and the pathology was examined. The addition of Mo to the drinking water induced an increase of hepatic Mo content. At the end of the second month, the hepatic content of Mo was 5.61 ppm, compared with control and W groups (2.18 and 0.96 ppm, respectively). A significantly lower incidence of tumors was observed in the Mo group (47), compared with the control group given DMH alone (105) and W group (113). On the other hand, the Mo group showed a significant decrease in the numbers of multiple tumors per rat.