Effect of Cancer Cachexia and Amiloride Treatment on the Intracellular Sodium Content in Tissue Cells

This study was designed to investigate the effects of a growing H6 hepatoma on the intracellular element content in three distinctly different tissue cell populations of the mouse host (hepatocytes, fibroblasts, and cryptal enterocytes). X-ray microanalysis measurements of the intranuclear concentrations of several elements (sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, and potassium) were made. Briefly, the tumor presence significantly increased intranuclear sodium concentration but not the concentration of magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, or potassium in three tissue cell types of mice that were anorectic and cachectic. A second aim of the study was to see if injections of the diuretic amiloride, a drug reported to block passive influx of sodium into mammalian cells, would counteract the effect of the tumor presence and lower the intranuclear concentration of sodium towards that of a non-tumor-bearing host. Amiloride did significantly lower the intranuclear level of sodium in the host tissues to that of non-tumor-bearing mice. The amiloride-caused decrease on intracellular sodium was correlated to a decreased cell proliferation activity in the tumor cells and duodenal enterocytes. A possible relationship between the intracellular concentration of sodium in tissue cells and cancer cachexia is discussed.