Passive membrane permeability to small molecules and ions in transformed mammalian cells: probable role of surface phosphorylation.

Addition of ATP to medium surrounding intact, transformed 3T3 cells causes the formation of aqueous channels in the plasma membrane. This effect of extracellular ATP is sharply dependent on the pH and temperature of the incubation medium, and is inhibited by low levels of La3+ or ruthenium red; inhibition is also obtained with concentrations of Mg2+ ions that exceed a ratio of Mg/ATP of one. The effect of ATP on membrane channel formation is unaffected by chelators of metal ions or by prior modification of the cell surface with various surface-active enzymes or sulfhydryl reagents. Under conditions which favor aqueous channel formation, incubation of intact 3T6 cells with ATP (gamma-32P) leads to phosphorylation of two membrane components with apparent molecular weight of 40,000 (40K) and 110,000 (110K) daltons; the 110K component which is unaffected by trypsin under normal conditions is rendered trypsin-sensitive by the phosphorylation reaction, probably as a result of a conformational change. Conditions which inhibit aqueous channel formation also inhibit phosphorylation of the 110K protein and decrease the labeling of the 40K component. These results indicate the probable role of cell surface phosphorylation, involving one or both of these components, in the formation of aqueous channels in transformed 3T3 cells. Aqueous channel formation by extracellular ATP is not associated with gross unfolding of the cell surface as revealed by lactoperoxidase-catalyzed iodination of the 3T6 cell surface.