Open AccessThe action of radium on cancer cells. I.—Effects of hydrocyanic acid, iodo-acetic acid, and sodium fluoride on the metabolism and transplantability of cancer cells
Author(s) -
Herbert Grace Crabtree,
William A. Cramer
Publication year - 1933
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series b, containing papers of a biological character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9185
pISSN - 0950-1193
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.1933.0043
Subject(s) - radium , in vitro , chemistry , cancer cell , metabolism , irradiation , sodium fluoride , glycolysis , cancer , cell culture , acetic acid , cancer research , radiochemistry , fluoride , biochemistry , biology , genetics , inorganic chemistry , physics , nuclear physics
In previous investigations (Cramer, 1932; Crabtree, 1932) evidence was obtained that— (a ) susceptibility to radium is not a fixed property of a given type of cancer cell, but varies with changes in the environment. The success of transplanatation of sections of mouse tumour, irradiatedin vitro , depended on the nature of the saline medium in which they were suspended; (b ) a primary effect of radium radiation on cellsin vitro was a selective diminution in their respiration, while glycolysis remained comparatively constant. These observations opened up a new line of investigation on the action of radium on cancer cells. A systematic study has therefore been undertaken of the effects which changes in the environment have on the susceptibility of malignant cells to radiation. In the second paper of this series, experiments are recorded which show the varying sensitivity to radium of tumour cells treated with well-known inhibitors of metabolism.