31P NMR was performed for the studies on the metabolic changes of endogenous phosphorus-containing molecules in KB and HCT-8 cells exposed to taxol at a concentration of 10(-6) mol.L-1. Using the perfusion method, the cells can be detected for a longer time by NMR, so as to give continuous spectra of the two cell-lines during the perfusion with and without the drug. The spectra showed that the levels of ATP peaks for both cells enhanced during the perfusion with the drug, but the change of the level is more prominent in KB cells than in HCT-8 cells. This shows that KB cells are more sensitive to taxol than HCT-8 cells. This is in coincident with the result in the cytotoxicity studies. However, the experiment using vincristine at the same concentrations demonstrated that the level of the ATP peak was not changed significantly.