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Tracer Studies on Cobalt Incorporation into Growing Tumors: Uptake of Radioactive Co⁶⁰ by Normal and Malignant Cells

( Physics Department, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England)

In view of the difference previously reported between cancerous cells and the supporting normal tissue as regards the uptake of cobalt, a study has been made of the incorporation of this metal in normal meristematic and embryonic tissues growing in a medium containing radioactive Co⁶⁰. Squashes and sections of Allium cepa and Vicia faba root tips and of embryonic tissues of Rana temporaria, grown in a medium containing up to 9 µg/ml of cobalt, have given radioautographs showing a marked concentration of radioactivity in the rapidly proliferating cells of the meristem and of the embryo. Quantitative values have been obtained for the cobalt incorporation in vivo and in vitro in nuclear material separated from meristematic tissues, from tumors, and from calf thymus. A comparison of these results with data previously obtained for sarcomas shows that the uptake is of the same order of magnitude for all growing cells, either normal or malignant, and is therefore unlikely to be directly related to the process of malignancy. The uptake is found to be higher for proliferating cells than for cells at rest, and it is suggested that the incorporation of the trace metal is due merely to chemical fixation and to the formation of chelated compounds with newly formed proteins and nucleoproteins, and may be connected with the presence of an increased number of SH-groups during mitosis.

Received 3/26/57.