The Gross Electrolyte Composition of Certain

Certain unexpected relationships between the nitrogen and phosphorus balances in patients with neoplasms led us to suspect that the ratio of nitro gen to phosphorus might be altered in human malignant tissue. Previous studies on patients with rapidly growing tumors have shown a proportion ately greater retention of phosphorus and potas sium, as related to nitrogen, than is usually seen in the repletion of normal body tissue (5). This stimulated our interest in the gross composition of human neoplastic tissue. A review of the recent literature revealed that in experimental tumors particular biochemical systems have received the most attention (6). When total analyses have been reported, these tu mors have consistently been relatively rich in water and poor in nitrogen, compared with the re lated normal tissues. Some studies have demon strated an increased concentration of phosphorus and potassium (13, 15). The data on human tu mors are more fragmentary and suffer from the fact that the analytical values have been corn pared with a variety of standards. The total con tent of specific substances present in tumor tissue can be most easily related to the weight of the specimen used. However, for this to be meaningful, certain corrections are necessary to indicate the quantity of malignant protoplasm actually pres ent. Those corrections that can be readily applied provide for the variable moisture, fat, and collagen content of tumor tissue. Corrections for the pres ence of variable amounts of supporting structures other than collagen and for the small amounts of necrotic and mucinous material which may be in terspersed with the living tumor cells are much more difficult. With full recognition of the prob