Respiration rate in human pituitary tumor explants.

Studies on the respiration rate of human pituitary tumor tissue have so far been lacking in the literature. This study presents the results from four adenomas causing acromegaly, all with different clinical degrees of the disease. Determination of oxygen uptake was performed in vitro with a spectrophotorespirometric system. Pieces of the tumors were explanted to an organ culture system with a high degree of stability. The secretion rate of growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) was determined. After 4-8 days in vitro, specimens were analyzed for respiration rate. This was approximately 1-1.5 microliters O2/h/micrograms dry weight. The activity of the pituitary tumor tissue was characterized by both the hormone secretion rate and the respiration rate. Particularly active foci were found to occur in the adenoma tissue. Depending on the individual tumor, the GH secretion rate was approximately 0.1-100 pmol/micrograms dry weight/h and PRL secretion rate approximately 0.4-18 micrograms/micrograms dry weight/h. The respiration rate--as is also the hormone secretion rate--is dependent on the time in vitro prior to analysis. The respiration rate in individual tumors is a parameter which does not reflect GH or PRL serum levels or clinical activity of the disease.