Contributions to the biochemistry of growth : distribution of nitrogenous substances in tumour and somatic tissues / by W. Cramer and Harold Pringle ; [communicated by E.A. Schäfer].

  • Cramer, William, 1878-
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Contributions to the biochemistry of growth : distribution of nitrogenous substances in tumour and somatic tissues / by W. Cramer and Harold Pringle ; [communicated by E.A. Schäfer]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    I 1910.] Contributions to the Biochemistry of Growth. 319 liable III.—Giving the Absolute Amounts of Total Nitrogen, Coagulable Nitrogen, and Incoagulable Nitrogen, expressed in Percentage of the Weight of Tissue, in the Various Tissues. Animal. Tumour. Liver. Muscle. Total N. Coag. N. Incoag. N. Total N. Coag. N. Incoag. N. Total N. Coag. N. Incoag. N. Kat I 2-39 1 -92 0-47 3-04 2-74 0-30 Rat II 2-80 2-22 0-58 3 -26 2 -94 0-32 Rat III No tumour 3-08 2-76 0-32 Mouse I ... 2 -25] 3 •12'] 2-77] Mouse II ... 2 -29 12 -28 1 -76 0-52 2 -77 U -03 2-50 0-53 — ^2-83 2-38 0-45 Mouse III ... 2-29 J 3 -19 J 2-88J evidence of the reliability of the methods. The table shows that both for mice and rats, and for carcinomata and sarcomata, the tissues of rapidly pro- liferating malignant new growths show a marked diminution, amounting to about one-quarter, of the substances which can be coagulated by alcohol. The substances which are not coagulated by alcohol show a slight but distinct increase as compared with somatic tissue. Summary. The rapidly growing cells of a malignant new growth, and the cells of the animal bearing it, show a marked quantitative difference in their chemical composition. Weight for weight, the cancer cells contain only about three- fourths of the protein substances present in the tissues of the host. In other words, with the same amount of protein a bigger mass of tumour tissue than of host tissue can be built up. The simpler (abiuret) nitrogenous products of cell metabolism, however, are present in slightly greater amount in the cancerous tissue. These results are important in themselves, for the light they throw upon the chemistry and the metabolism of the cancer cell. The interpretation of their bearing on the growth of cancerous tissue may only be attempted with caution. As regards the rapidity of growth, it is possible to formulate con- clusions ; since the tissue of a neoplasm can be built up with less protein than the same weight of host tissue, the former must grow more rapidly than the latter under circumstances where both are using up nitrogen for mere growth at the same rate. In order to explain the rapidity of growth, it is not necessary to assume that the cancer cells build up protein more rapidly in a given time than the cells of the host, since we have shown that the former
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