scholarly journals PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A PLASMA MEMBRANE FRACTION FROM ISOLATED FAT CELLS

1970 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel W. McKeel ◽  
Leonard Jarett

A rapid method of preparing plasma membranes from isolated fat cells is described. After homogenization of the cells, various fractions were isolated by differential centrifugation and linear gradients. Ficoll gradients were preferred because total preparation time was under 3 hr. The density of the plasma membranes was 1.14 in sucrose. The plasma membrane fraction was virtually uncontaminated by nuclei but contained 10% of the mitochondrial succinic dehydrogenase activity and 25–30% of the RNA and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide cytochrome c reductase activity of the microsomal fraction. Part of the RNA and NADH-cytochrome c reductase activity was believed to be native to the plasma membrane or to the attached endoplasmic reticulum membranes demonstrated by electron microscopy. The adenyl cyclase activity of the plasma membrane fraction was five times that of Rodbell's "ghost" preparation and retained sensitivity to epinephrine. The plasma membrane ATPase activity was five times that of the homogenate and microsomal fractions. Electron microscopic evidence suggested contamination of the plasma membrane fraction by other subcellular components to be less than the biochemical data indicated.

1986 ◽  
Vol 250 (1) ◽  
pp. C65-C75 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. V. Sharma ◽  
R. C. Bhalla

A plasma membrane fraction from bovine carotid arteries has been isolated by extraction of a crude microsomal fraction with a low-ionic-strength buffer containing ATP and Ca2+. This step was followed by sucrose-density-gradient centrifugation in the presence of 0.6 M KCl. The plasma membrane vesicles were enriched 60- to 80-fold in Na+-K+-adenosinetriphosphatase, 5'-nucleotidase, and phosphodiesterase I activities. The final yields of these marker enzymes were 12-18% of the total activities in the postnuclear supernatant, and the protein yield was 100-120 micrograms/g wet wt of carotid arteries. Contamination of the plasma membrane fraction by mitochondria and sarcoplasmic reticulum was low as judged by low activities of succinate--cytochrome-c reductase and NADPH--cytochrome-c reductase, respectively. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoprecipitation with smooth muscle-specific actin antibodies showed that the plasma membrane fraction was substantially free from myosin and actin contamination. The plasma membrane vesicles accumulated Ca2+ in the presence of ATP, and the accumulation was increased by calmodulin. Ca2+ accumulated in the presence or absence of calmodulin could be released almost completely from the vesicles by the addition of the Ca2+ ionophore A23187 but not by ethyleneglycol-bis(beta-aminoethylether)-N,N'-tetraacetic acid, indicating that Ca2+ uptake in the presence of ATP is intravesicular. The effects of phosphate and oxalate on Ca2+ uptake in the plasma membranes were different from one another. Phosphate increased Ca2+ uptake in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, and the increase in Ca2+ uptake could be observed as early as 1 min. On the other hand, oxalate at concentrations up to 5 mM did not increase Ca2+ uptake significantly during the 30-min incubation. These plasma membranes can prove useful for the study of ion transport across plasma membranes, hormone binding, characterization of calcium channels, and preparation of antibodies against plasma membrane proteins.


1973 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. C. Charalampous ◽  
N. K. Gonatas ◽  
A. D. Melbourne

Plasma membranes from KB cells were isolated by the method of latex bead ingestion and were compared with those obtained by the ZnCl2 method. Optimal conditions for bead uptake and the isolation procedure employing discontinuous sucrose gradient centrifugation are described. All steps of preparative procedure were monitored by electron microscopy and specific enzyme activities. The plasma membrane fraction obtained by both methods is characterized by the presence of the Na+ + K+-activated ATPase and 5'-nucleotidase, and contains NADPH-cytochrome c reductase and cytochrome b5. The latter two enzymes are also present in lower concentrations in the microsomal fraction. Unlike microsomes which are devoid of the Na+ + K+-activated ATPase and which contain only traces of 5'-nucleotidase activity, the plasma membrane fraction contains only trace amounts of the rotenone-insensitive NADH-cytochrome c reductase but no cytochrome P-450, both of which are mainly microsomal components. Morphologically the plasma membrane fraction isolated by the latex bead method is composed of vesicles of 0.1–0.3 µm in diameter. On the basis of the biochemical and morphological criteria presented, it is concluded that the plasma membrane fraction isolated by the above methods are of high degree of purity.


1989 ◽  
Vol 109 (4) ◽  
pp. 1519-1528 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Miyata ◽  
B Bowers ◽  
E D Korn

Myosin I accounted for approximately 2% of the protein of highly purified plasma membranes, which represents about a tenfold enrichment over its concentration in the total cell homogenate. This localization is consistent with immunofluorescence analysis of cells that shows myosin I at or near the plasma membrane as well as diffusely distributed in the cytoplasm with no apparent association with cytoplasmic organelles or vesicles identifiable at the level of light microscopy. Myosin II was not detected in the purified plasma membrane fraction. Although actin was present in about a tenfold molar excess relative to myosin I, several lines of evidence suggest that the principal linkage of myosin I with the plasma membrane is not through F-actin: (a) KI extracted much more actin than myosin I from the plasma membrane fraction; (b) higher ionic strength was required to solubilize the membrane-bound myosin I than to dissociate a complex of purified myosin I and F-actin; and (c) added purified myosin I bound to KI-extracted plasma membranes in a saturable manner with maximum binding four- to fivefold greater than the actin content and with much greater affinity than for pure F-actin (apparent KD of 30-50 nM vs. 10-40 microM in 0.1 M KCl plus 2 mM MgATP). Thus, neither the MgATP-sensitive actin-binding site in the NH2-terminal end of the myosin I heavy chain nor the MgATP-insensitive actin-binding site in the COOH-terminal end of the heavy chain appeared to be the principal mechanism of binding of myosin I to plasma membranes through F-actin. Furthermore, the MgATP-sensitive actin-binding site of membrane-bound myosin I was still available to bind added F-actin. However, the MgATP-insensitive actin-binding site appeared to be unable to bind added F-actin, suggesting that the membrane-binding site is near enough to this site to block sterically its interaction with actin.


1984 ◽  
Vol 221 (2) ◽  
pp. 477-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Cockcroft ◽  
J M Baldwin ◽  
D Allan

Addition of Ca2+ to a plasma-membrane fraction derived from human or rabbit neutrophils led to the specific breakdown of polyphosphoinositides. The degradation products were identified as diacylglycerol and inositol bis- and tris-phosphate, thus demonstrating the presence of a Ca2+-activated phospholipase C. The newly generated diacylglycerol resembled the polyphosphoinositides in its fatty acid composition, and in the presence of MgATP2- it was converted into phosphatidate. These results therefore demonstrate the presence in neutrophil plasma membranes not only of polyphosphoinositide phosphodiesterase but also of diacylglycerol kinase.


1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (10) ◽  
pp. 1230-1239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret A. Shirley ◽  
Harry Schachter

Adult rat testis homogenates were fractionated by differential centrifugation followed by two discontinuous gradient centrifugation steps under identical conditions except for the absence of digitonin in the first gradient and the presence of 0.03% digitonin in the second gradient. The first gradient centrifugation yielded a membrane fraction enriched 28.8-fold in 5′-nucleotidase, 21.5-fold in UDP-Gal:GlcNAc galactosyltransferase and 18.6-fold in UDP-GlcNAc:α-D-mannoside N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase. Repeat centrifugation of this membrane fraction in the presence of digitonin resulted in the sedimentation of most of the membrane material to a denser level of the gradient; this material was enriched 32.1-fold in 5′-nucleotidase but only 1.9-fold in galactosyltransferase and 8.4-fold in N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase. The plasma membrane fraction was shown to be free of glucose-6-phosphatase, succinate dehydrogenase, β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, DNA, and RNA. The fraction therefore appears to be enriched in plasma membrane but relatively free of Golgi membrane contamination, as indicated by the relatively low levels of glycosyltransferases, and of contamination by other organelles. The testicular cells which contribute plasma membrane to this fraction have not yet been definitively identified; the contribution by Sertoli cells is particularly difficult to assess since these cells have been reported to be enriched in 5′-nucleotidase. However, sulfogalactosylalkylacylglycerol (SGG), a lipid previously shown to be present primarily in primary spermatocytes, spermatids, and spermatozoa, was enriched 33.1-fold in the plasma membrane fraction; this finding as well as experiments with [36S]sulfate-labeled sulfogalactosylalkylacylglycerol at various times after injection of radioactive label have indicated that both spermatocytes and spermatids were contributing SGG-rich membrane material to our plasma membrane preparation. This membrane material is most probably derived from the plasma membranes of the spermatocytes and spermatids.


1992 ◽  
Vol 287 (3) ◽  
pp. 841-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Ferreri ◽  
K M J Menon

The ovary uses the cholesterol from high-density lipoproteins (HDL) as a substrate source for steroid hormone production. It is not clear, however, how ovarian cells acquire the lipoprotein cholesterol. This study describes the characterization and isolation of a high-affinity-binding protein for apolipoprotein E-free HDL from the plasma-membrane fraction of bovine corpora lutea. Plasma membranes were prepared by differential centrifugation with 5-6-fold enrichment of 5′-nucleotidase activity. The binding of 125I-HDL to the plasma membranes was time-dependent, and there appeared to be a single high-affinity site with a Kd of 6.7 micrograms of HDL/ml of assay buffer. The binding was not affected by high concentrations of low-density lipoproteins or the Ca2+ chelator EDTA, nor by changes in pH in the range 6.5-9.0. The binding was affected by the salt concentration in the buffer, with a dose-dependent increase that reached a maximum at 150-250 mM-NaCl. Binding was increased in the presence of high concentrations of KCl and KBr, and most significantly increased by high concentrations of bivalent metal ions. Ligand-blot analysis under reducing conditions revealed that the binding protein was a single polypeptide of about 108 kDa that was associated with the plasma-membrane fraction. This HDL-binding protein was purified to homogeneity by solubilization with Triton X-100, poly(ethylene glycol) precipitation, DEAE-Sephadex chromatography, and preparative SDS/PAGE. The purified binding protein is a single polypeptide of 108 kDa that retains high affinity and specificity for HDL as assayed by ligand blotting.


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