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Anærobic Glycolysis of Dispersed Cell Suspensions from Normal and Malignant Tissues

Abstract

IN studies of cellular metabolism, the potential advantages of using dispersed cell suspensions rather than tissue homogenates or slices have led a number of workers to investigate the methods of preparation and properties of cell suspensions from various tissues1–5. Liver parenchymal and kidney epithelial cell suspensions prepared by mechanical disruption of the tissue, with or without prior perfusion of the organ, appear to be morphologically intact when examined by either light or electron microscopy1,2. These cell suspensions, however, are apparently metabolically different from tissue slices, since they show negligible endogenous respiration which cannot be restored by glucose or a number of protein and non-protein factors2,3 and have lost the ability to convert intracellular carbohydrate to lactic acid3. The oxidation of succinate by these cells, however, has been reported to proceed at a rate exceeding that observed with slices2,3, and is independent of exogenous cytochrome c (ref. 4). Liver cell suspensions have also been found to incorporate glycine at a rate seven-fold greater than that observed with homogenates6.

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ZIMMERMAN, M., DEVLIN, T. & PRUSS, M. Anærobic Glycolysis of Dispersed Cell Suspensions from Normal and Malignant Tissues. Nature 185, 315–316 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/185315a0

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