Brain-tumor chemotherapy

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Abstract
An implanted choriocarcinoma growing in the brains of rhesus monkeys was used as a brain-tumor model for the study of the cerebral distribution of 2 commonly used physiological markers, inulin and albumin. Tissue samples were obtained from the tumor, adjacent brain and distant brain. An extravascular inulin space was calculated by subtracting the albumin (plasma) space from the total inulin spaces. The extravascular inulin space in the tumor was 24%, a value significantly larger than that in distant brain (0.6%). The large inulin space of the tumor was probably the result of increases in capillary permeability and the extracellular space within this area. Determination of the inulin space in 1-2 mm thick samples of tissue taken serially from the tumor center to the distant brain indicated a gradual decline in inulin concentration from the tumor''s edge to distant brain. This distribution pattern could be the result of a continuous decrease, running from the tumor to distant brain, in capillary permeability to inulin, or a diffusional flow of inulin from the tumor into the adjacent tissue. The failure of drugs to inhibit such a tumor in view of these observations is discussed.