THE CONSTITUTION OF MITOCHONDRIA AND MICROSOMES, AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF NUCLEIC ACID IN THE CYTOPLASM OF A LEUKEMIC CELL

1. Rat tumor extracts, containing chiefly the cytoplasmic constituents of leukemic cells, were fractionated into three main portions, the different components separating in the centrifuge according to size. 2. Mitochondria were isolated by centrifugation at relatively low speed. Elementary composition of purified mitochondria was found to correspond to about 11.5 per cent nitrogen, 1.6 per cent phosphorus, and 27 per cent lipids. Phosphorus and nitrogen content of the lipid portion suggests that as much as 75 to 80 per cent of the lipids of mitochondria is represented by phospholipids. Tests for ribose nucleic acid were positive. 3. Microsomes were separated by means of centrifugation at 18,000 x g. A relation between the high phosphorus content of the microsomes and the marked basophilia of the cytoplasm of leukemic cells is suggested. 4. Phosphorus distribution in the tumor extract, and light absorption analysis of the third fraction, seem to demonstrate that nucleic acid was not present either in a free condition, or in the form of nucleoprotein of relatively low molecular weight. The nature of the results suggests that ribose nucleic acid occurs in the cytoplasm of leukemic cells only in association with formed elements of relatively large size, namely microsomes, and mitochondria.