A method is presented which can measure the differential anaerobic glycolytic rates of various elements within a solid tissue without actually destroying the intercellular relationships and architecture of the tissue mass. Over a period of years isologous human colon tissues were examined. Carcinoma of the colon (including frankly malignant polyp) was found to display, by far, the highest rate of anaerobic glycolysis of any isologous colon tissue; next highest was normal mucosa (including benign polyp); then, in descending order of lactic acid (CO2) production: lymphoid tissue, cell-infiltrated connective tissue, smooth muscle, and “pure” connective tissue. It is suggested that this method, which is dependent on a combined metabolic, histologic, and mathematic approach, can be extended to procedures other than anaerobic glycolysis, and can constitute a type of screening program to test for the differential effects of drugs on tumors and isologous tissue of origin.

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This investigation was supported, in part, by USPHS Research Grant 1 SO1 FR-05402-01, and also, in part, by a grant from the Hendricks Foundation, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.

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©1966 American Association for Cancer Research.
1966
Cancer Research, Inc.