Metabolism of Pure Cultures of Malignant Cells of Walker Rat Sarcoma 319

Abstract

A large literature exists on the metabolism of spontaneous and transmissible tumors. At least one host factor complicates all of these studies, namely the mixture of host tissues with the tumor. Only microscopic portions of tumors growing in animals are free of connective tissue, wandering cells, or blood vessels contributed by the host. Any measurement of the metabolism of a tumor derived directly from an animal is a resultant of this mixture. It is impossible to determine accurately the metabolism of the tumor cells, even when corrections are made for the relative quantities of normal and malignant cells, since the presence of malignant cells in a host influences the metabolism of the normal cells (20). With tissues comprised wholly of tumor cells this complication can be avoided. Because of the recent advances in tissue culture methods, especially tumor cultivation (10, 14, 15), an approach to this problem has become feasible. The present report is concerned with the metabolism of pure cultures of malignant cells (tumor cells) of Walker rat sarcoma 319. The respiratory rates and the effects of glucose on these, as well as the respiratory quotients and aerobic and anaerobic glycolytic rates, were studied. Comparisons were made between cultures of different ages and grown on different media. Method The technic for the cultivation of the malignant cells of this tumor has been described (14). The cultures were made in roller tubes in the Department of Embryology, The Carnegie Institution of Washington, Baltimore. The metabolic determinations were made in the Department of Pathology of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. The tissue cultures employed for metabolic studies ranged in age from 268 to 981 days. In individual cultures the medium was varied as indicated in Table I. For shipment about 50 cultures were placed in tubes containing the ingredients indicated in Table I. The tubes were insulated with absorbent cotton and carried by passenger from Baltimore to New York. They left the first laboratory at 9:00 a.m. and arrived in the second at 2:00 p.m. Within an hour of their arrival the first metabolic readings were taken. The viability of the tissues upon arrival was substantiated by the fact that several of the colonies were cultured in chicken plasma by Dr. H. S. Simms and were found to grow actively.