scholarly journals Immunolocalization of MP70 in lens fiber 16-17-nm intercellular junctions.

1987 ◽  
Vol 104 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
W T Gruijters ◽  
J Kistler ◽  
S Bullivant ◽  
D A Goodenough

Thin section electron microscopy reveals two different types of membrane interactions between the fiber cells of bovine lens. Monoclonal antibodies against lens membrane protein MP70 (Kistler et al., 1985, J. Cell Biol., 101:28-35) bound exclusively to the 16-17-nm intercellular junctions. MP70 localization was most dramatic in the lens outer cortex and strongly reduced deeper in the lens. In contrast, the 12-nm double membrane structures and single membranes were consistently unlabeled. In freeze-fracture replicas with adherent cortical fiber membranes, MP70 was immunolocalized in the junctional plaques which closely resemble the gap junctions in other tissues. MP70 is thus likely to be associated with intercellular communication in the lens.

1974 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 567-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Rash ◽  
Mark H. Ellisman

The neuromuscular junctions and nonjunctional sarcolemmas of mammalian skeletal muscle fibers were studied by conventional thin-section electron microscopy and freeze-fracture techniques. A modified acetylcholinesterase staining procedure that is compatible with light microscopy, conventional thin-section electron microscopy, and freeze-fracture techniques is described. Freeze-fracture replicas were utilized to visualize the internal macromolecular architecture of the nerve terminal membrane, the chemically excitable neuromuscular junction postsynaptic folds, and the electrically excitable nonjunctional sarcolemma. The nerve terminal membrane is characterized by two parallel rows of 100–110-Å particles which may be associated with synpatic vesicle fusion and release. On the postsynpatic folds, irregular rows of densely packed 110–140-Å particles were observed and evidence is assembled which indicates that these large transmembrane macromolecules may represent the morphological correlate for functional acetylcholine receptor activity in mammalian motor endplates. Differences in the size and distribution of particles in mammalian as compared with amphibian and fish postsynaptic junctional membranes are correlated with current biochemical and electron micrograph autoradiographic data. Orthogonal arrays of 60-Å particles were observed in the split postsynaptic sarcolemmas of many diaphragm myofibers. On the basis of differences in the number and distribution of these "square" arrays within the sarcolemmas, two classes of fibers were identified in the diaphragm. Subsequent confirmation of the fiber types as fast- and slow-twitch fibers (Ellisman et al. 1974. J. Cell Biol. 63[2, Pt. 2]:93 a. [Abstr.]) may indicate a possible role for the square arrays in the electrogenic mechanism. Experiments in progress involving specific labeling techniques are expected to permit positive identification of many of these intriguing transmembrane macromolecules.


Author(s):  
Paul C. Dolber ◽  
Joachim R. Sommer

A number of investigators have demonstrated by thin-section electron microscopy the presence of "coated dense vesicles" associated with the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of mammalian cardiac muscle. The similarity of such vesicles to junctional SR (JSR) has been reported: They are at¬tached to SR tubules, they have "feet" at their cytoplasmic surface, and they contain electron-dense material (Fig. 1). Accordingly, and In con¬sideration of their shape, they have been named corbular SR (CSR). We here report the freeze-fracture appearance of the SR, especially the CSR, in the rabbit heart.


1982 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
E L Hertzberg ◽  
D J Anderson ◽  
M Friedlander ◽  
N B Gilula

Gap junctions from rat liver and fiber junctions from bovine lens have similar septilaminar profiles when examined by thin-section electron microscopy and differ only slightly with respect to the packing of intramembrane particles in freeze-fracture images. These similarities have often led to lens fiber junctions being referred to as gap junctions. Junctions from both sources were isolated as enriched subcellular fractions and their major polypeptide components compared biochemically and immunochemically. The major liver gap junction polypeptide has an apparent molecular weight of 27,000, while a 25,000-dalton polypeptide is the major component of lens fiber junctions. The two polypeptides are not homologous when compared by partial peptide mapping in SDS. In addition, there is not detectable antigenic similarity between the two polypeptides by immunochemical criteria using antibodies to the 25,000-dalton lens fiber junction polypeptide. Thus, in spite of the ultrastructural similarities, the gap junction and the lens fiber junction are comprised of distinctly different polypeptides, suggesting that the lens fiber junction contains a unique gene product and potentially different physiological properties.


Author(s):  
Frederick A. Murphy ◽  
Alyne K. Harrison ◽  
Sylvia G. Whitfield

The bullet-shaped viruses are currently classified together on the basis of similarities in virion morphology and physical properties. Biologically and ecologically the member viruses are extremely diverse. In searching for further bases for making comparisons of these agents, the nature of host cell infection, both in vivo and in cultured cells, has been explored by thin-section electron microscopy.


Author(s):  
E. Keyhani

The mutagenic effect of ethidium bromide on the mitochondrial DNA is well established. Using thin section electron microscopy, it was shown that when yeast cells were grown in the presence of ethidium bromide, besides alterations in the mitochondria, the plasma membrane also showed alterations consisting of 75 to 110 nm-deep pits. Furthermore, ethidium bromide induced an increase in the length and number of endoplasmic reticulum and in the number of intracytoplasmic vesicles.Freeze-fracture, by splitting the hydrophobic region of the membrane, allows the visualization of the surface view of the membrane, and consequently, any alteration induced by ethidium bromide on the membrane can be better examined by this method than by the thin section method.Yeast cells, Candida utilis. were grown in the presence of 35 μM ethidium bromide. Cells were harvested and freeze-fractured according to the procedure previously described.


1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 878-884 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshihiro Fujii ◽  
Tatsuo Suzuki ◽  
Akira Hachimori ◽  
Michiyo Fujii ◽  
Yoshiyuki Kondo ◽  
...  

The interaction between polymerized tubulin from porcine brain and myosin from rabbit skeletal muscle was examined. The addition of myosin to the solution of tubulin polymerized by taxol resulted in a remarkable increase in turbidity within a few minutes at 37 °C, and a dense and stable precipitate was formed. The maximal molar ratio of tubulin bound to myosin was calculated to be about 4, while the value was about 2 when 6S tubulin was used. Both podophyllotoxin and colchicine suppressed the taxol-dependent increase of the binding of tubulin to myosin, but only when they were preincubated with tubulin prior to addition of taxol. 6S tubulin inhibited with aetin-activated Mg2+-ATPase activity of myosin, and polymerized tubulin inhibited the Mg-ATPase more than 6S tubulin. Dense precipitates of tubulin and myosin were observed by thin-section electron microscopy. Microtubules were observed to be entangled in myosin filaments and single microtubules were occasionally surrounded by five myosin filaments in a cross section, similar to actin–myosin arrays in muscle. After incubation of tubulin with myosin, taxol was able to induce tubulin polymerization in the same way as it polymerized microtubules in the absence of myosin.


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