Cell membrane ionic permeability, calcium ion, mitochondria, and carcinogenesis.

The interrelations between changes in cell membrane permeability, increase of intracellular concentration of calcium ion and alterations of the bioenergetic and genetic mechanisms of the mitochondria are formalized in a hypothesis of carcinogenesis. It seems very likely that changes in the permeability of the cell membrane induced by the carcinogen are responsible for increased intracellular accumulation of Ca2+. This phenomenon produces mitochondrial damage associated with permanent modifications of the structural and functional characteristics of the cell membranes as well as of the genetic mechanisms controlling cell division.