Intracellular compartmentalization of adenosine triphosphate.

The intracellular distribution and diffusivity of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was studied by cryomicrodissection of individual Rana pipiens oocytes. We measured ATP concentrations in the nucleus, in animal and vegetal hemisphere cytoplasm, and in an intracellular reference phase (iRP, a microinjected gelatin "organelle") which samples diffusive ATP. Regional concentrations were not equal: nucleus much greater than animal ooplasm greater than vegetal ooplasm. ATP binding and water availability (as solvent) were determined by plotting nuclear and cytoplasmic ATP concentrations as a function of reference phase ATP concentrations (isothermal analysis). The nucleus/iRP isotherm for ATP was an equimolar line, showing that nucleoplasm resembles iRP gelatin (and consequently a simple aqueous solution) in its solvent properties. Cytoplasm/iRP isotherms were more complex, having slopes much less than unity and ordinal intercepts above the graph's origin. They demonstrate the presence in cytoplasm of mechanisms that are capable of excluding and binding ATP. These mechanisms are responsible for the inhomogeneity in ATPs intracellular distribution. In addition, exclusion and binding have different and opposing effects on ATP concentrations in the cell's "soluble space," and hence on ATP availability to enter into cellular reactions. It follows that these phenomena must be considered in attempts to model ATPs role in metabolism.