Cellular compartmentation of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells.

: The digitonin method for the study of cellular compartmentation in mitochondrial and cytosolic fractions was applied to Ehrlich ascites tumor cells. The volume of mitochondrial and cytosolic water spaces are calculated to be 1.62 microliter/30 x 10(6) cells respectively, by the technique of 3H2O permeable and (14C)-sucrose impermeable spaces. The validity of the methods was tested by the distribution of cytosolic (lactate dehydrogenase) and mitochondrial (citrate synthase and glutamate dehydrogenase) marker enzymes. As occurs in normal hepatic cells, an asymmetric distribution of ATP and ADP was observed. The ATP/ADP ratio in the cytosolic fraction was 7 times higher than in the mitochondrial fraction.