[Quantitative assessment of the degree of stomach cancer cell morphologic dedifferentiation]

Quantitative estimation of the nucleic acids content in the preparations stained with gallocianine-chromic alum was made in 20 cases of stomach cancer. Coefficients of the ratio of the nucleus section surface and the cytoplasm, the ratio of DNA + RNA of the nucleus to RNA of the cytoplasm, and of DNA of the nucleus to the sum total quantity of RNA in the nucleus and the cytoplasm, the index of DNA accumulation were compared in adenocarcinomas (210 cells) and undifferentiated cancers (390 cells) of the stomach. The ratio of the nucleus surface and the cytoplasm, DNA + RNA of the nucleus to RNA of the cytoplasm was higher (statistically significant value) in adenocarcinomas as compared with undifferentiated cancers of the stomach. This allows to suggest a lower differentiation of adenocarcinoma cells in comparison with tumour cells of undifferentiated forms of stomach cancer.