title: Perturbation of blood flow as a mechanism of anti-tumour action of direct current electrotherapy.
abstract: Anti-tumour effects of direct current electrotherapy are attributed to different mechanisms depending on the electrode configuration and on the parameters of electric current. The effects mostly arise from the electrochemical products of electrolysis. Direct toxicity of these products to tumour tissue is, however, not a plausible explanation for the observed tumour growth retardation in the case when the electrodes are placed into healthy tissue surrounding the tumour and not into the tumour itself. The hypothesis that the anti-tumour effectiveness of electrotherapy could result from disturbed blood flow in tumours was tested by the measurement of changes in blood perfusion and oxygenation in tumours with three different methods (in vivo tissue staining with Patent Blue Violet dye, polarographic oximetry, near-infrared spectroscopy). The effects induced by electrotherapy were evaluated in two experimental tumour models: Sa-1 fibrosarcoma in A/J mice and LPB fibrosarcoma in C57B1/6 mice. We found that perfusion and oxygenation were significantly decreased after electrotherapy. Good agreement between the results of different methods was observed. The effect of electrotherapy on local perfusion of tumours is probably the prevalent mechanism of anti-tumour action for the particular type of electrotherapy used in the study. The importance of this effect should be considered for the optimization of electrotherapy protocols in experimental and clinical trials. The non-invasive technique of near-infrared spectroscopy proved to be a reliable method for detecting perfusion and oxygenation changes in small solid tumours.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Trzaska 25, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Tomaz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jarm
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cemazar
authors.forename: Fritz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Streffer
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sersa
authors.forename: Damijan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miklavcic
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods; D004572:Electrolysis / Q000379:methods; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000473:pathology; D005354:Fibrosarcoma / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008805:Mice, Inbred A; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods