[en] Previous studies showed that as monolayer cultures of a rat hepatocyte cell line passed from log growth to confluency there was an increase in sulfation of heparan sulfate (HS) and the accumulation of a unique species of HS with a high content of sulfated GlcA residues in the nucleus. The present study compares the HS metabolism of a rat (Morris) hepatoma line. Cells were labeled with ³⁵SO₄^2- and the structure and distribution of [³⁵SO₄]HS from the culture medium (CM), the pericellular matrix (Ma), the nucleus (NUC), the outer nuclear membrane (NM), and the remaining cytoplasmic (CP) pool was measured as nitrous acid-susceptible material. The amount of label incorporated into each pool was 1/10 that observed in the hepatocyte line. The HS proteglycan and the free HS chains from the hepatoma showed size distributions similar to those found for the hepatocytes, but a lower average charge density. In the HS from the CM, Ma, and CP pools 56% of glucosamine residues were sulfated; in that from the NM and NUC pools 46% were sulfated. HONO treatment gave mono- and disulfated disaccharides in a ratio of 1.5:1 for all five cellular pools, but showed that the HS from the NUC pool did not contain high levels of sulfated GlcA residues