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The Effect of Anoxia on Tumor Growth with Special Reference to Sarcoma 180 Implanted in C57 Mice^*

Alvan L. Barach, Hylan A. Bickerman, Sylvia Itkin and Gerald Zagal

( Columbia Division, Goldwater Memorial Hospital, and Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.)

A decrease in tumor weight, without loss in body weight, was produced in three series of acclimatized C57 mice implanted with Sarcoma 180 after residence for 10 days in a chamber at 9.5 per cent oxygen.

A more marked reduction in tumor size and weight was produced by exposure to a lower oxygen concentration, i.e., 7 per cent, in mice previously treated by radioactive iodine; but a loss in body weight occurred in this group.

When Sarcoma 180 was implanted into Paris Strain mice and then exposed to gradually decreasing oxygen concentrations by repeated transplant into other mice, subsequent inoculations of these transplants revealed that the tumor itself did not share in the increased resistance to hypoxia manifested by the host as a result of the acclimatization procedure. On the contrary, "acclimatized" tumors transplanted into mice were markedly inhibited in their growth when exposed continuously to 9.5 per cent oxygen for 10 days.

In a similar experiment with Carcinoma 755, the mean tumor weight of tumors in control (or room-air) mice was 5 times greater than that of the tumors from acclimatized mice treated with 9.5 per cent oxygen. The tumor itself manifested no capacity for increased resistance to hypoxia after repeated exposure to an acclimatization procedure that manifestly protected the host.

The combined use of artificial induction of hypothyroidism and acclimatization is being investigated as a method of protecting the host against a degree of hypoxia that is capable of arresting tumor growth.

^* This study has been supported by grants from the Marcia Brady Foundation and the Mary W. Rumsey Fund.

Clinical professor of medicine.

Associate in Medicine.

Received 6/18/54.

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