A study of inorganic phosphorus release accompanying glycolysis of blood in cancer.

When blood undergoes glycolysis at 37 ~ C, in addition to the loss of blood sugar, there are accompanying changes in the inorganic phosphorus. This relationship has been investigated and reported by a number of authors (2, 8, 9, 10). They agree that during the first 4 hours of glycolysis, the inorganic phosphorus of the blood in normal individuals either remains at a constant level, or is only slightly diminished. After 6 to 8 hours when glycolysis is practically complete, there is a progressive rise in the inorganic phosphorus and after the 15th hour, the concentration may reach as high as 252 mgm. per cent (6). The inorganic phosphorus of normal blood keeps at a fairly constant level, and is elevated only in conditions such as uremia or when the calcium is greatly diminished. Increase in the inorganic phosphorus during glycolysis is at the expense of organic soluble phosphorus of the blood cells (ester phosphorus). The explanation for the liberation of the inorganic phosphorus under these conditions, offered by Englehardt and Braunstein (3), Roche and Roche (7), and generally concurred in by most investigators, is that blood glycolysis is accompanied by a constant synthesis and hydrolysis of organic phosphate. These reactions, namely, synthesis of hexose-phosphoric acid esters as a first step in glycolysis, and secondly the hydrolysis of these esters are interrelated, although the hydrolysis may proceed independently of the synthesis. When hydrolysis exceeds synthesis inorganic phosphorus is liberated. Glycolysis can be inhibited by the introduction of sodium fluoride as an anti-coagulant. When blood taken in fluoride was incubated for 6 hours at 37 ~ C, a release of inorganic phosphorus could be demonstrated, in spite of the fact that no glycolysis had occurred. The results of the determinations of glucose and inorganic phosphorus made before incubation and at 6 hours and 24 hours after incubation using fluoride and heparin as anti-coagulants, are given in Table I. A comparison of the inorganic phosphorus values at the end of the 24 hours incuba-