Cell coat in tumor cells -- effects of trypsin and EDTA: a biochemical and morphological study.

The effects of trypsin and EDTA on the cell coat of ascites tumor cells were studied by means of biochemical and electron microscopy techniques. EDTA seems to release, by chelation of the Ca2+-bridges, an outer layer of glycoproteins of presumably exogenous origin. On the contrary, trypsin produces a deeper enzymic cleavage which appears to affect the structural integrity of the bilayered cell membrane. The significance of the cell leakage in tumor cells and the effect of EDTA on the modification of this leakage by change of cell membrane permeability are discussed.