Energy turnover of human large bowel adenocarcinoma in comparison to adenomatous and normal mucosa

Malignant tumors differ from healthy tissue, among other things, in their c ell kinetics and in a changed energy metabolism. Therefore the objective of this study is to find an answer to the question, whether these cell-biolog ical differences result in a changed thermal output. For this purpose biops ies were taken from human colorectal carcinomas (n=10), on the occasion of colonoscopic examinations; the former were placed into a microcalorimeter, and the occurring thermal flow rates were measured. The results were then c ompared with corresponding data of biopsies taken from normal colorectal mu cosa (n=16) and with data of biopsies taken from colorectal adenomatous tis sue (n=18), which can be looked upon as a precancerosis. While tissue from adenocarcinomas showed a significantly higher (t=0/1 h: p<0.005/0.025) ener gy turnover than normal mucosa, adenomatous tissue did not differ from heal thy mucosa. Thus an enhanced overall energy turnover with colorectal adenoc arcinomas cannot be verified until the stage of malignancy has been arrived at. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.