title: The metabolic behaviour of the cellular populations in the pleural or peritoneal effusions from patients with malignant diseases.
abstract: Complex morphologic, biochemical and cyto-enzymochemical investigations have been performed in the pleural or peritoneal effusions which occurred in 80 patients with various neoplastic diseases (pleural, pulmonary, hepatic, genital or breast cancers). As shown by the morphologic and biochemical tests, the proportion of fluids with a malignant or benignant character varied widely in the different forms of neoplasias. In the same effusions, the authors have studied the metabolic behaviour of acid phosphatase activity, the glycogen and nucleolar RNA amounts in the lymphocytes, in the malignant cells and in the mesothelial ones. High values of these cyto-enzymochemical components were found in the lymphocytes and the malignant cells from fluids with a positive malignant character, although similar changes were also observed in many cells of the effusions with morphologically negative reactions, and in a lesser proportion in those from patients with adenocirrhosis. It is concluded that such investigations could contribute to a better understanding of the metabolic behaviour of the cells from neoplastic effusions thus increasing the possibility of detecting the malignant character of the cells in the pleural or peritoneal effusions with a morphologically negative character.
mesh_terms: D000135:Acid Phosphatase / Q000378:metabolism; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000378:metabolism; D001202:Ascitic Fluid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006003:Glycogen / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D012313:RNA; D006003:Glycogen; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase; D000135:Acid Phosphatase