The intracellular transport and distribution of cysteamine phosphate derivatives.

Radioautography and extractive techniques were used to analyze the transport of cysteamine phosphate and its derivatives in salamander oocytes. The quantitative relations among the processes involved - membrane permeation, enzymatic dephosphorylation, binding through mixed disulfide formation, and cytoplasmic diffusion - were elucidated. Within the detection limits, all of the intracellular material is present as dephosphorylated derivatives. Cytoplasmic diffusion is effectively slowed by binding (the "chromatographic" effect) and makes an appreciable contribution to cellular flux rates. As a consequence, one can observe by radioautography a cortical diffusion ring which spreads inward as a function of influx time, while also increasing in peak density because of the finite membrane permeability. Good agreement was found between the transport parameters determined by radioautography and those from influx data for the whole oocyte. The ratio of nuclear to cytoplasmic concentrations of the cysteamine phosphate derivatives at equilibrium is about 0.4. The nuclear membrane is, however, a negligible barrier to transport, and the asymmetry appears to arise primarily from the quantity and sulfhydryl content of the binding proteins in the two compartments.