Cation-transport properties were compared in a human leukemic cell line (K562) and its vincristine-selected, mdr1-gene-expressing sublines (K562/Vcr30 and K562/Vcr150) by the capacity of the cells to accumulate the potassium analogue thallium (201Tl). Determination of the time course of thallium accumulation in the absence and presence of ouabain, an inhibitor of sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase), showed that the initial (at 20 min) rate of ouabain-resistant uptake was about 70% higher in the K562/Vcr30 cells than in the parental line. The maximal rate (Vmax) of ouabain-resistant uptake was 78 mmol/h for K562 cells and 115 mmol/h for K562/Vcr30 cells, and the Michaelis constant (Km) was 0.37 and 0.18 mmol, respectively. Bumetanide (50 microM), a specific inhibitor of ouabain-resistant Na-K-Cl cotransport, inhibited the elevated 201Tl uptake in K562/Vcr150 cells but had no effect on cellular vincristine accumulation. Incubation with different multidrug resistance (MDR)-reversing agents (verapamil as well as cyclosporin A and its analogue PSC833) had no significant effect on 201Tl uptake. Membrane depolarization by an elevation of the potassium concentration in the incubation medium did not affect vincristine accumulation in any cell line, which indicated that the changed drug-transport properties in mdr1-gene-expressing cells were not due to membrane hyperpolarization. It was concluded that P-glycoprotein-positive cells have a more efficient ouabain-resistant cation-transport mechanism than to cells without P-glycoprotein. A functional relationship between this phenomenon and MDR was not identified.