The biochemical basis for natural resistance to 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (ara-C) was investigated in the intact cells of 4 rat ascites hepatomas, AH-66F, AH-60C, AH-109A, and AH-66, whose sensitivity to ara-C was different in that decreasing order. The initial rapid uptake of ara-C, mediated by the facilitated diffusion, was similar in all the cell lines tested but the subsequent slow uptake due to phosphorylation of ara-C was inversely correlated with their drug resistance. The capacity for drug phosphorylation was slightly higher in AH-66F and much lower in AH-60C, AH-109A, and AH-66 than in the host bone marrow. In contrast, mouse leukemia L-1210, one of the tumors sensitive to ara-C, phosphorylated the drug about 7 times faster than AH-66F and 4 times faster than the host bone marrow. More than 95% of phosphorylated ara-C was the triphosphate, the active form. Deamination of ara-C was not observed in any tumor or bone marrow. It is concluded that the low capacity for nucleotide formation is related to the natural resistance of rat ascites hepatomas to ara-C.