URINARY PTERIDINE LEVELS DURING PROLIFERATION OF MALIGNANT AND NORMAL-CELLS

A rapid method was described earlier for estimation of total urinary p teridines, a method found suitable for monitoring cancer patients unde r therapy (Trehan and Noronha [1993] J. Clin. Biochem. Nutr., 14, 195- 203). This method was employed in the present study for monitoring dev elopment of Yoshida ascites tumor and regeneration of liver in partial ly hepatectomized rats. During tumor development the total urinary pte ridines to creatinine ratio was found to increase progressively by mor e than five fold. The progressive increase in urinary pteridine levels correlated well with the tumor development. However, when partially h epatectomized rats with rapidly regenerating normal liver cells were m onitored over a 13-day post-hepatectomy period, almost normal excretor y levels of pteridines were found throughout this regeneration period, This clearly brings out that though both the systems investigated inv olved proliferating cells, the increased urinary pteridine excretion w as associated solely with malignant cell growth and not with prolifera ting normal tissue.