Effects of tumors on nucleic acids and their purine constituents in the mouse.

The nucleic acid content of growing normal and pathological tissues has been a subject of interest in recent years. Several investigators (l-7) have studied nucleic acid changes during embryonic development. It is a well established fact that rapidly growing embryonic tissue has a high concentration of nucleic acid. This was recently extended by Reddy and Cerecedo (S), who observed that gestation in the mouse is accompanied by an increase in the nucleic acid concentration in the liver, lung, and kidney of the parent animal. A good deal of attention has also been directed to the part played by nucleic acids in neoplastic growth. Several investigators (9-13) have presented evidence indicating a high nucleic acid content for tumor tissues. The present investigation is an extension of the work of Reddy and Cerecedo (14), who have shown that there is an increase in the nucleic acid content of liver, kidney, and lung of mice bearing a transplantable sarcoma.