Effect of hyperthermia on the lactic acid and beta-hydroxybutyric acid content in tumour.

The effects of hyperthermia on the content of lactic acid and beta-hydroxybutyric acid in the SCK mammary carcinoma and the leg muscle of A/J mice were studied. The contents of lactic acid in the SCK tumour before heating was 9.32 mumol/g, and the content of beta-hydroxybutyric acid was only 0.013 mumol/g. The lactic acid content in the tumour increased to 17.5 mumol/g at 0 h after heating at 41.5 degrees C for 30 min and then decreased to the control level 3 h later. When heated at 43.5 degrees C for 30 min, the lactic acid content in the tumour increased to 24 mumol/g at the end of heating and remained elevated for 24 h. The content of beta-hydroxybutyric acid increased continuously reaching 0.45 mumol/g at 5 h after heating at 43.5 degrees C for 30 min, and then declined thereafter. The contents of lactic acid and beta-hydroxybutyric acid in the muscle also increased after heating, but these increases were far less than those observed in the tumours. The absolute amount of lactic acid in the heated tumours was far greater than that of beta-hydroxybutyric acid, and thus appeared to play the major role for the increased acidity in the heated tumours.