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Cholesterol Esterification by the Mitochondria-rich Fraction of the Snell Adrenal Cortical Tumor 494-H and the Normal Adrenal Gland¹

Department of Physiology, University of California, Berkeley, California

The esterification of cholesterol-4-¹⁴C was compared in mitochondria-rich fractions prepared from homogenates of the Snell transplantable adrenal cortical tumors 494-H and normal adrenal glands of rats. The esterification was negligible in unfortified mitochondrial preparations of both tissues, but in the preparations of the tumor, in distinct contrast to those of the normal gland, the addition of either cell sap of the same tissue, cell sap of the normal gland (heated for 1 hr to destroy enzyme activity), or a mixture of cholesterol and oleic acid failed to bring about a pronounced increase in the esterification. The observation that the protein (in both the whole homogenate and the mitochondrial fraction) but not the DNA concentration, was lower in the tumor than in the normal adrenal gland suggests that the low capacity of the mitochondria-rich fraction of the tumor to esterify cholesterol may have been due to a below normal level of the cholesterol-esterifying enzyme in that fraction of the neoplastic cell.

¹ This investigation was supported by USPHS Grant CA-00879 from the National Cancer Institute.

² Present address: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill.

³ This manuscript was prepared bedore Dr. Chaikoff's untimely death on January 25, 1966.

Received 4/11/66. Accepted 6/28/66.