End products of glutamine oxidation in MC-29 virus-induced chicken hepatoma mitochondria.

Products of glutamine metabolism were examined in the MC-29 virus-induced chicken hepatoma mitochondria incubated in vitro. Glutamine oxidation proceeded in the tumor mitochondria exclusively via a pathway involving glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase. Malate stimulated aspartate production from glutamine, while pyruvate exerted suppressive effect on aspartate production with little alanine formation. The mitochondria of this hepatoma are unique in that the metabolic pattern and response to malate and pyruvate are essentially inconsistent with those reported in normal cells as well as those proposed by Moreadith and Lehninger in various tumor cells.