Intercellular communication and tissue growth: VII. A cancer cell strain with retarded formation of permeable membrane junction and reduced exchange of a 330-dalton molecule.

A cancer (hepatoma) cell strain is described in which the formation of junctional membrane channels is abnormally slow. The development of electrical junctional coupling following the establishment of contact between these (reaggregated) cells is at least 15 times slower than that between their normal counterparts; and junctional transfer of fluorescein eventually develops, but only in about 5 per cent of the contacts (as against 100 per cent normally). This deviant membrane behavior is interpreted as a retardation in the process of accretion of junctional membrane channels. Its possible etiological role in defective growth regulation is discussed.