Five kinds of foreign bodies (silicone, cellulose, polyvinyl chloride, zirconia and alkyl-alpha cyanoacrylate) were implanted into subcutaneous tissue of female Fisher rats. Subcutaneous tumors were induced in 27.3, 54.5, 100, 63.6% of rats by silicone rubber, polyvinyl chloride, zirconia and alkyl-alpha-cyanoacrylate, respectively, but not by cellulose. Almost all tumors were composed of a mixture of cells that resembled fibroblasts characterized by the presence of numerous rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus, histiocytes characterized by developed endoplasmic reticulum and abundant lysosome, myofibroblasts characterized by the presence of both myofibrils and fibroblast-like structures, and immature mesenchymal cells. In some tumors, the cells exhibited a storiform pattern. Some tumor cells were positively stained by ED2 or anti-muscle actin antibody. The features of induced tumors in rats were consistent with those of human malignant fibrous histiocytoma. A rat malignant fibrous histiocytoma transplanted into the subcutaneous tissue of the syngeneic female Fisher rats grew and metastasized to the lungs.