Biochemical Studies of Malignant Conditions

In a previous paper (1) we reported the results of a study of the blood chemistry of hens bearing the Rous sarcoma No. 1. In this paper it was shown that there were no changes in the nonprotein nitrogen, uric acid, creatinine, chlorides, cholesterol, serum calcium and inorganic phosphorus, hemoglobin, and bilirubin, of the bloods of sarcoma-bearing hens when compared with the same determinations upon control hens under the same pen conditions. A definite elevation of the blood-sugar level of the sarcoma-bearing hens was found, and a slight lowering of the CO2-combining power of the blood was noted. As a hyperglycemia was the outstanding pathological finding in our study of the blood chemistry of the tumor-bearing hens, it seemed important to examine further the carbohydrate metabolism of these fowls. We have, therefore, made studies of the glucose tolerance of hens bearing the Rous sarcoma No.1, and have also examined the glycogenolytic activity and the glycolytic activity of the blood of hens in which this tumor had developed. For the glucose tolerance tests, a dosage of 2 grams of glucose per kilogram of body weight was given intravenously to a group of normal hens and hens with well developed Rous sarcomata. The results of these experiments are shown in Chart 1. The curves representing the blood sugars of the hens bearing sarcomata are definitely diabetic in character when compared with the normal controls. These findings show that fowls bearing the Rous sarcoma have a lowered glucose tolerance, and they have a significance similar to that of the reports of Friedenwald and Grove (2), Roffo and Rivarola (3), Kelly (4), and Foerster and Foerster (5), who have reported lowered glucose tolerance in patients suffering with malignant tumors. The lowered sugar tolerance of the sarcoma-bearing fowls is probably the result of metastases extending