Comparative studies of glucose metabolism in HTC, RLC, MH1C1, and Reuber H35 rat hepatoma cells.

Carbohydrate metabolism by four rat hepatoma cell lines in culture, namely, Reuber H35, MH1C1, RLC, and HTC, has been investigated. Glucose utilization by H35 and MH1C1 cells is lower than that by RLC and HTC cells. The four cell lines also differ with respect to the accumulation of lactic acid in the growth medium; in particular, H35 cells show uptake of lactic acid, rather than accumulation in the medium. Specific activities of a number of enzymes involved in glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, pentose phosphate pathway, and glycogen formation were determined in the four cell lines. A direct relationship between the differences was found for the activities of some enzymes belonging to carbohydrate metabolism, namely, hexokinase, pyruvate kinase, aldolases A and B, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and the differences found for glucose utilization by the different cell lines.