A Comparison of Potassium Flux in Hepatomas with That in Normal Liver

The behavior of intracellular potassium has been examined in rat liver slices and in slices of dimethylaminoazobenzene-produced hepatomas. It was found that both liver and hepatoma slices lost potassium during the first 15 minutes of incubation but then regained a portion of this during the ensuing 50–60 minutes. Hepatoma slices did not lose as much potassium as did liver slices, and the steady state concentration was higher in hepatomas than in liver. The total potassium flux per unit area of cell membrane calculated from the K⁴² equilibration curves was smaller in hepatoma than in liver slices. The potassium flux is analyzed using both a compartmental treatment and a calculation of permeability based on the T^1/2plot. Both the permeability coefficient and the internal diffusion constant were found to be smaller in hepatoma than in liver.