The metabolism of hepatoma cell strains in an improved filter well apparatus.

glycolytic and capable of producing lactic acid from substrates other than glucose; they showed no metabolic response to the presence of insulin in the medium. Fewer Novikoff cells than Reuber cells remained viable after 10 days in culture. It is suggested that the inability of the hepatoma cells to survive in filter well culture may be a reflection of the extent to which metabolism has become committed to uncontrolled DNA synthesis and multiplication, thus preventing the cells from existing in a nonproliferative state.