Skip to main content
NCBI home page
British Journal of Cancer logoLink to British Journal of Cancer
. 1991 Jul;64(1):54–58. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1991.238

Changes in tumour morphology with alterations in oxygen availability: further evidence for oxygen as a limiting substrate.

D G Hirst 1, V K Hirst 1, B Joiner 1, V Prise 1, K M Shaffi 1
PMCID: PMC1977301  PMID: 1854627

Abstract

The ability of cancer cells to survive at a distance from blood vessels should be dependent on the local supply of nutrients to each vessel. The corded growth of tumour cells around blood vessels within regions of necrosis in the RH carcinoma in the mouse allows the limit to which cells can be supported by individual vessels to be observed. The thickness of individual tumour cords was measured in conventionally stained tumour sections using a scanning technique to determine the distance between the blood vessel wall and the most distant viable cell adjacent to necrosis. Cord radius was found to vary with the oxygen supply conditions. Control animals had a mean radius of 105 +/- 2 microns while animals that had breathed 10% oxygen had significantly narrower cords (93 +/- 3 microns after 48 h) and animals breathing 100% oxygen had significantly wider cords (117 +/- 3 microns after 24 h). Mice made anaemic (mean hct. 28%) by phlebotomy and plasma transfusion had cord radii that were not significantly different from controls at any time up to 48 h. We conclude that this relatively slow growing mouse tumour is capable of rapid morphological adaptation (less than 3 h) to changes in nutrient availability and that oxygen is probably the limiting substrate.

Full text

PDF
54

Images in this article

55Figure 1
on p.55

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Awwad H. K., el Naggar M., Mocktar N., Barsoum M. Intercapillary distance measurement as an indicator of hypoxia in carcinoma of the cervix uteri. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1986 Aug;12(8):1329–1333. doi: 10.1016/0360-3016(86)90165-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Denekamp J., Hill S. A., Hobson B. Vascular occlusion and tumour cell death. Eur J Cancer Clin Oncol. 1983 Feb;19(2):271–275. doi: 10.1016/0277-5379(83)90426-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Groebe K., Vaupel P. Evaluation of oxygen diffusion distances in human breast cancer xenografts using tumor-specific in vivo data: role of various mechanisms in the development of tumor hypoxia. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1988 Sep;15(3):691–697. doi: 10.1016/0360-3016(88)90313-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hirst D. G. Anemia: a problem or an opportunity in radiotherapy? Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1986 Nov;12(11):2009–2017. doi: 10.1016/0360-3016(86)90139-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hirst D. G., Denekamp J., Hobson B. Proliferation kinetics of endothelial and tumour cells in three mouse mammary carcinomas. Cell Tissue Kinet. 1982 May;15(3):251–261. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2184.1982.tb01044.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hirst D. G., Hazlehurst J. L., Brown J. M. The effect of alterations in haematocrit on tumour sensitivity to X-rays. Int J Radiat Biol Relat Stud Phys Chem Med. 1984 Oct;46(4):345–354. doi: 10.1080/09553008414551521. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hirst D. G., Wood P. J. The adaptive response of mouse tumours to anaemia and retransfusion. Int J Radiat Biol Relat Stud Phys Chem Med. 1987 Apr;51(4):597–609. doi: 10.1080/09553008414552131. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hlatky L., Sachs R. K., Alpen E. L. Joint oxygen-glucose deprivation as the cause of necrosis in a tumor analog. J Cell Physiol. 1988 Feb;134(2):167–178. doi: 10.1002/jcp.1041340202. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lauk S., Skates S., Goodman M., Suit H. D. A morphometric study of the vascularity of oral squamous cell carcinomas and its relation to outcome of radiation therapy. Eur J Cancer Clin Oncol. 1989 Oct;25(10):1431–1440. doi: 10.1016/0277-5379(89)90101-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Sevick E. M., Jain R. K. Viscous resistance to blood flow in solid tumors: effect of hematocrit on intratumor blood viscosity. Cancer Res. 1989 Jul 1;49(13):3513–3519. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Siemann D. W., Hill R. P., Bush R. S., Chhabra P. The in vivo radiation response of an experimental tumor: the effect of exposing tumor-bearing mice to a reduced oxygen environment prior to but not during irradiation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1979 Jan;5(1):61–68. doi: 10.1016/0360-3016(79)90039-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Siracká E., Siracký J., Pappová N., Révész L. Vascularization and radiocurability in cancer of the uterine cervix. A retrospective study. Neoplasma. 1982;29(2):183–188. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. THOMLINSON R. H., GRAY L. H. The histological structure of some human lung cancers and the possible implications for radiotherapy. Br J Cancer. 1955 Dec;9(4):539–549. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1955.55. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Tannock I. F., Kopelyan I. Influence of glucose concentration on growth and formation of necrosis in spheroids derived from a human bladder cancer cell line. Cancer Res. 1986 Jun;46(6):3105–3110. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Cancer are provided here courtesy of Cancer Research UK

RESOURCES