The effect of blood flow modification on intra- and extracellular pH measured by 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy in murine tumours.

Intra- and extracellular pH (pHi and pHe) were measured simultaneously by 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in CaNT tumours before and after blood flow modification. Before modification, pHi was 7.1 +/- 0.09 (n = 11) and pHe [measured with an MRS-visible extracellular marker, 3-aminopropyl phosphonate (3-APP)] was 6.7 +/- 0.05 (n = 8). Chemical shift imaging and localised MRS experiments showed that the 3-APP signal was only from the tumour, not surrounding tissue. After modification by vascular occlusion, independent of whether tumours were maintained at room temperature (22-24 degrees C) or kept warm (33-35 degrees C), there was a decrease in pHi and pHe with pHi decreasing to a greater extent. Qualitatively similar results were found using flavone acetic acid (FAA) as a blood flow modifier; only four out of nine tumours responded to FAA. Concomitant with the reduction of the pH gradient after modification was a decrease in the phosphorylation state of the adenine nucleotides measured either as ATP/Pi by MRS or [ATP]/[ADP][P(i)] in tumour extracts. These results indicate that the intracellular uptake of chemotherapeutic drugs which are dependent on the transmembrane pH gradient will not be enhanced in cells made ischaemic as a result of vascular shutdown.