Combined effects of pregnancy and Lewis lung carcinoma bearing upon essential metal tissue content in inbred mice.

Abstract

The essential metal (Cu, Zn, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na and K) tissue content in Lewis-lung-carcinoma-bearing mice was compared with that of pregnant mice as well as with controls and with mice both pregnant and cancerous. All comparisons were done on day 17 after inoculation/Impregnation on C57BL/6 age-matched female mice. Despite unchecked tumour growth and metastasizing ability, pregnancy effectively prevented the tissue-wasting effect of the tumour. The economy of all the essential metals studied followed practically the same pattern. The combined tumour-bearing and pregnancy situation was much closer to that of pregnancy than to the tumour-bearing alone, either at individual tissue concentration level or at that of the whole animal, in the maternal tissue and metal stores and tissue concentrations in front of the cachexic effect of tumour-bearing. Neither fetal nor tumour growth nor their metal content were impaired by the presence of the tumour/concepta. The maternal processes that allow for a higher fetal uptake of substrates seem to increase--at least in the case of iron--the ability of the tumour to accumulate some metals.