Microregional blood flow in murine and human tumours assessed using laser Doppler microprobes.
A multichannel laser Doppler system has been used to measure microregional fluctuations in perfusion in the HT29 human tumour xenograft and in patients with advanced malignant disease. A comparison is made with previously obtained data for the SaF, a transplantable murine tumour. The 300 microns diameter probes recorded fluctuations in erythrocyte flux in tumour microregions with an estimated volume of 10(-2) mm3. Of the 66 human tumour microregions sampled, 26% showed a change in erythrocyte flux by a factor of 2 or more over the 60 min measurement period, compared with 37% of HT29 and 48% of SaF microregions. In each of the studies more than 50% of changes were completed within 20 min, although slower changes were more common in the human tumours than in the experimental systems. Within the 1 h monitoring period at least 30% of the changes were reversed (human tumours 30%, HT29 45%, SaF 31%). These findings demonstrate that microregional changes in erythrocyte flux, consistent with transient, perfusion-driven changes in oxygenation, are a feature of human malignancies as well as experimental transplanted tumours.
Hill
S A
SA
Tumour Microcirculation Group, Gray Laboratory Cancer Research Trust, Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, UK.
Pigott
K H
KH
Saunders
M I
MI
Powell
M E
ME
Arnold
S
S
Obeid
A
A
Ward
G
G
Leahy
M
M
Hoskin
P J
PJ
Chaplin
D J
DJ
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D051379:Mice; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D016513:Mice, SCID; D008875:Middle Aged; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012513:Sarcoma, Experimental / Q000098:blood supply*