The effect of hyperthermia on glucose transport in normal and thermal-tolerant Chinese hamster ovary cells.

The effect of hyperthermia on glucose transport was studied in CHO cells to test the hypothesis that interference with membrane transport might be related to cell death at elevated temperatures. It was shown that passive diffusion of 2-deoxyglucose increases steadily over the temperature range 4-50 degrees C. Facilitated diffusion increases from 4 degrees C to 35 degrees C then exhibits a broad optimum before decreasing rapidly above 45 degrees C. The temperature dependence of glucose transport in thermally resistant cells was not however different from that of normal cells suggesting that this membrane transport process is not a critical target in cell killing by heat.