Abstract
Acid phosphatase, ATP-ase and cytochrome-c oxidase activities have been studied in rat mitochondria isolated from precancerous livers and from experimental hepatomas.
ATP-ase and cytochrome-c oxidase activities are increased, while acid phosphatase activity is decreased by p-DAB feeding.
These enzymatic modifications seem to be secondary to morphological and structural changes of precancerous and cancerous liver mitochondria. They occur very early during experimental liver carcinogenesis, contemporaneously with the appearance of structural changes indicated by a minor swelling of precancerous and cancerous mitochondria isolated in hypotonic media, as compared to mitochondria from normal livers.
No statistically significant differences have been observed between enzymatic activities of mitochondria isolated from precancerous livers and hepatomas; it is suggested that the mitochondrial damage reaches its maximum in the precancerous stages, being no furtherly modified in the established hepatomas.
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