Studies on calcium, sodium, and potassium content of three strains of ascites hepatoma, with special regard to their biological significance.

That Ca is decreased and K increased in cancerous tissues as compared to the corresponding normal ones, has hitherto been reported by many workers.110> DeLong et al.5 1 reported that the diminution in Ca content is peculiar to cancer and responsible for the decreased mutual adhesiveness of cancer cells. They also reported that the increased K content is merely one of the expressions of cellular multiplication, since increase in K is found in actively growing tissues, whether cancerous or noncancerous. The lowered Na content of cancers was also observed by them. However, all these studies were performed with cancer tissues containing stroma. The present author attempted to determine the content of Ca, Na, and Kin cancer cells themselves, using ascites hepatoma and to make clear the biological significance of these cations.