Microcalorimetric measurements carried out on isolated tumorous and nontumorous tissue samples from organs in the urogenital tract in comparison to histological and impulse-cytophotometric investigations

Abstract

In this comparative study, microcalorimetric measurements were carried out on a total of 96 tumorous and nontumorous tissue samples taken from organs of the urogenital tract using a thermal activity monitor (TAM). Changes in the heat emission of the tissue samples were measured at 1-min intervals and graphically displayed as a function of time. The aim of the study was to compare the microcalorimetric results with impulse-cytophotometric and histological findings and provide evidence for the metabolic activity of tumorous and nontumorous tissue. In order to obtain the variation in metabolic activity, the maxima (Pmax) of the curves were determined as a value of the maximum thermal power of a tissue sample, the mean values (P) were determined by the mean thermal power and the contour integrals (W) were defined by the behavior of the energy reserves and their mobilization. The first part of the study was carried out to investigate whether tumorous and nontumorous tissue samples differ in general according to their metabolic activity. We discovered, using the parameters described above, that in general tumorous tissue exhibited a higher metabolic activity than nontumorous tissue samples. For example, both W and P in tumorous prostate tissue samples were eightfold higher and the (Pmax) value was 8.4-fold higher than in normal tissue. Additional investigations on testicle and kidney tissues were performed to find a possible correlation between microcalorimetric results and histological grading. We found that an increasing malignancy correlated with a higher metabolic activity of the tissue. Based upon these results we were able to differentiate the various histological gradings of these tumorous tissues by microcalorimetric measurements. The results show it is possible to differentiate between normal and tumorous tissue samples by microcalorimetric measurement based on the distinctly higher metabolic activity of malignant tissue. Furthermore, microcalorimetry allows a differentiation and classification of tissue samples into their histological grading. With the help of microcalorimetry, it might be possible in future to detect and record the metabolic processes of isolated tissue structures and changes in these activities as a result of medical intervention such as cytostatic treatment.

Isothermal Microcalorimetry of Tumor Cells: Enhanced Thermogenesis by Metastatic Cells

“…This observation supports the proposal that tumor cells do indeed display a reprogrammed metabolism and that metastasis might resort to metabolic pathways that supply extra energy to enable processes such as increased motility and invasiveness. The results described here obtained with cell suspensions are in agreement with the pioneering work of Kallerhoff et al (27) who measured heat release of tissue samples from the human urogenital tracts, including prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular tissue. Kallerhoff et al showed that it was possible to differentiate normal from tumor cells, although they could only speculate that the difference found may have been attributable to a higher metabolic activity.…”

Microcalorimetric assays for measuring cell growth and metabolic activity: Methodology and applications

“…For example, it has been shown that urogenital tumorous biopsies were releasing more heat per unit of time than healthy tissues [91,92]. Similarly, adipocytes obtained from biopsies in obese patients have been shown to have lower metabolic activities than those from lean subjects [93][94][95].…”

Biomedical Use of Isothermal Microcalorimeters

“…Finally, IMC performed on urogenital tract biopsies was shown to be effective in discriminating tumorous from non-tumorous tissues [66]. In addition, through comparison of histological investigations and calorimetry data these authors emphasized that it was possible to grade the malignancy of the tumor using the heat production data.…”