Neoplasms of the human gastro-intestinal tract characterized by HR-MAS NMR.

The results of our studies on healthy stomach and colon mucosa, and on gastric and colon adenocarinomas are reported. As far as the stomach tumors are concerned, the biochemical picture captured by HR-MAS is strongly different from that characteristic of the healthy mucosa, whereas intermediate situations are found for gastritis samples. When colon samples are analyzed, HR-MAS highlights a marked metabolic heterogeneity within the class of the healthy specimen, as well as within that of the neoplastic ones. A statistical approach, based on the analysis of the conventional pre-saturated 1D 'H spectra, was thus undertaken in order to distinguish among the two classes of healthy and neoplastic colon tissues. Interestingly, the samples taken at not less than 1 5 cm from the lesion, and classified as macroscopically normal by histology, are more similar to the neoplastic than to the healthy ones.