Abstract
In a recent communication Koller (1) has stated his belief that the nucleic acid content of chromosomes rises to abnormally high values in tumor cells. Apparently he believes that this increased content of nucleic acid is related to the cause of malignancy, as he makes the following statement. “Since the amount of nucleic acid and the rate of its production determine the frequency of division, the excess amount of nucleic acid present in the tumour must be considered as the fundamental cause of increased division rate and malignancy.” In this paper we should like to report the results of analyses for desoxyribonucleic acid in nuclei isolated from the cells of the two types of rat tumor, and to compare these results with the total desoxyribonucleic acid content of cell nuclei of normal rat liver. Also, in order to show that other types of cell nuclei may have a much higher desoxyribonucleic acid content than either the cell nuclei of normal liver or the nuclei of the two tumor cells studied, we have included analyses for the desoxyribonucleic acid content of the nuclei of fish spermatozoa and bird eryt,hrocytes.
Highlights
In this paper we should like to report the results of analyses for desoxyribonucleic acid in nuclei isolated from the cells of the two types of rat tumor, and to compare these results with the total desoxyribonucleic acid content of cell nuclei of normal rat liver
In the case of Hepatoma 31, it is probable that the nucleic acid content is much lower than the values recorded in Table I, and is much lower than the values for nuclei isolated from normal liver cells, since the use of 4 per cent citric acid undoubtedly results in the extraction of much of the histone present in the nuclei
Nuclei isolated from Walker Carcinosarcoma 256 at pH 3.0 with 1.5 per cent citric acid, and nuclei isolated from Hepatoma 31 with 4 per cent citric acid have been analyzed for clesoxyribonucleic acid, and the results have been compared with similar analyses of cell nuclei from normal rat liver, chicken erythrocytes, and fish spermatozoa
Summary
In a recent communication Koller (1) has stated his belief that the nucleic acid content of chromosomes rises to abnormally high values in tumor cells. He believes that this increased content of nucleic acid is related to the cause of malignancy, as he makes the following statement. In this paper we should like to report the results of analyses for desoxyribonucleic acid in nuclei isolated from the cells of the two types of rat tumor, and to compare these results with the total desoxyribonucleic acid content of cell nuclei of normal rat liver. A drop or two of molar citric acid was added when needed to prevent agglutination of the nuclei because of increase in pH
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