Neuroblastoma cells, cultivated on plastic dishes, in presence of 15 mM glucose resist very well to hypoxia. Cells incubated on plastic dishes, if left unshaken, showed a Pasteur effect at an oxygen concentration below 10%. Oxygen diffusion was the limiting factor in these plastic dishes since improved oxygen diffusion, as a result of shaking, decreased the lactate production considerably at all oxygen concentrations used. When cells were cultivated on Petriperm((R)) dishes, coated with polylysine, oxygen diffusion was no longer a rate-limiting factor: less lactate was produced at 21% O(2) and hypoxia, down to 2.5% O(2) did not show any increase in the rate of lactate production, while Antimycin A drastically increased the glycolytic rate. A situation of limited oxygen availability resulted in two different kinds of adaptation of the neuroblastoma cells: first an instantaneous metabolic regulation leading to an increased glycolytic rate-the Pasteur effect-followed later by an increase in the activities of the glycolytic enzymes-hexokinase (EC 2.7.1.1), phosphoglucose isomerase (EC 5.3.1.9), 6-phosphofructokinase (EC 2.7.1.11), pyruvate kinase (EC 2.7.1.40) and lactate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27) and a simultaneous decrease of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (EC 1.9.3.1) activity. However, when the glucose concentration in the medium was decreased to 5 mM the cells were affected by hypoxia already at 5% O(2): cells released lactate dehydrogenase extracellularly and their protein content was decreased. This toxic effect of hypoxia was related to the exhaustion of the glucose supply.