scholarly journals THE DISTRIBUTION AND ASYMMETRY OF MAMMALIAN CELL SURFACE SACCHARIDES UTILIZING FERRITIN-CONJUGATED PLANT AGGLUTININS AS SPECIFIC SACCHARIDE STAINS

1974 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 236-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garth L. Nicolson ◽  
S. J. Singer

The preparation, properties, and some applications of ferritin conjugates of two plant agglutinins, concanavalin A and Ricinus communis agglutinin, are reported. These conjugates serve as specific electron-dense stains for cell- and membrane-bound saccharide residues of the α-D-mannopyranosyl and ß-D-galactopyranosyl configurations, respectively, and as examples of a wide range of ferritin-plant agglutinin conjugates useful as high resolution saccharide stains. By using a technique for preparing flattened membrane specimens, it was found with a variety of mammalian cell plasma membranes (lymphocyte, lymphoma, and myeloma and normal, spontaneously and virally transformed fibroblasts) that the ferritin conjugates were localized exclusively to the exterior face of the membrane, with essentially none found on the cytoplasmic face. On the exterior face the topographical distribution of ferritin conjugates appeared to be random. The asymmetrical distribution of saccharide residues to the outer membrane face can be explained by an "assembly line" process whereby new plasma membrane is made from intracellular precursor membranes. It also suggests that the saccharide-containing components of the plasma membrane do not rotate at any appreciable rate from one membrane surface to the other.

1986 ◽  
Vol 239 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
W D Sweet ◽  
F Schroeder

The functional consequences of the differences in lipid composition and structure between the two leaflets of the plasma membrane were investigated. Fluorescence of 1,6-diphenylhexa-1,3,5-triene(DPH), quenching, and differential polarized phase fluorimetry demonstrated selective fluidization by local anaesthetics of individual leaflets in isolated LM-cell plasma membranes. As measured by decreased limiting anisotropy of DPH fluorescence, cationic (prilocaine) and anionic (phenobarbital and pentobarbital) amphipaths preferentially fluidized the cytofacial and exofacial leaflets respectively. Unlike prilocaine, procaine, also a cation, fluidized both leaflets of these membranes equally. Pentobarbital stimulated 5′-nucleotidase between 0.1 and 5 mM and inhibited at higher concentrations, whereas phenobarbital only inhibited, at higher concentrations. Cationic drugs were ineffective. Two maxima of (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activation were obtained with both anionic drugs. Only one activation maximum was obtained with both cationic drugs. The maximum in activity below 1 mM for all four drugs clustered about a single limiting anisotropy value in the cytofacial leaflet, whereas there was no correlation between activity and limiting anisotropy in the exofacial leaflets. Therefore, although phenobarbital and pentobarbital below 1 mM fluidized the exofacial leaflet more than the cytofacial leaflet, the smaller fluidization in the cytofacial leaflet was functionally significant for (Na+ + K+)-ATPase. Mg2+-ATPase was stimulated at 1 mM-phenobarbital, unaffected by pentobarbital and slightly stimulated by both cationic drugs at concentrations fluidizing both leaflets. Thus the activity of (Na+ + K+)-ATPase was highly sensitive to selective fluidization of the leaflet containing its active site, whereas the other enzymes examined were little affected by fluidization of either leaflet.


1976 ◽  
Vol 154 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
J P Luzio ◽  
A C Newby ◽  
C N Hales

1. A rapid method for the isolation of hormonally sensitive rat fat-cell plasma membranes was developed by using immunological techniques. 2. Rabbit anti-(rat erythrocyte) sera were raised and shown to cross-react with isolated rat fat-cells. 3. Isolated rat fat-cells were coated with rabbit anti-(rat erythrocyte) antibodies, homogenized and the homogenate made to react with an immunoadsorbent prepared by covalently coupling donkey anti-(rabbit globulin) antibodies to aminocellulose. Uptake of plasma membrane on to the immunoadsorbent was monitored by assaying the enzymes adenylate cyclase and 5′-nucleotidase and an immunological marker consisting of a 125I-labelled anti-(immunoglobulin G)-anti-cell antibody complex bound to the cells before fractionation. Contamination of the plasma-membrane preparation by other subcellular fractions was also investigated. 4. By using this technique, a method was developed allowing 25-40% recovery of plasma membrane from fat-cell homogenates within 30 min of homogenization. 5. Adenylate cyclase in the isolated plasma-membrane preparation was stimulated by 5 μm-adrenaline.


1987 ◽  
Vol 241 (3) ◽  
pp. 801-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
R T Earl ◽  
E E Billett ◽  
I M Hunneyball ◽  
R J Mayer

Reconstituted Sendai-viral envelopes (RSVE) were produced by the method of Vainstein, Hershkovitz, Israel & Loyter [(1984) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 773, 181-188]. RSVE are fusogenic unilamellar vesicles containing two transmembrane glycoproteins: the HN (haemagglutinin-neuraminidase) protein and the F (fusion) factor. The fate of the viral proteins after fusion-mediated transplantation of RSVE into hepatoma (HTC) cell plasma membranes was studied to probe plasma-membrane protein degradation. Both protein species are degraded at similar, relatively slow, rates (t1/2 = 67 h) in HTC cells fused with RSVE in suspension. Even slower degradation rates for HN and F proteins (t1/2 = 93 h) were measured when RSVE were fused with HTC cells in monolayer. Lysosomal degradation of the transplanted viral proteins is strongly implicated by the finding that degradation of HN and F proteins is sensitive to inhibition by 10 mM-NH4Cl (81%) and by 50 micrograms of leupeptin/ml (70%).


1978 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
WW Franke ◽  
C Grund ◽  
E Schmid ◽  
E Mandelkow

In cultured cells of the rat kangaroo PtK2 line, veils of the cell surface were observed which consisted of only plasma membrane and paracrystalline arrays of membrane-associated particles sandwiched in between. These membrane-to-membrane cross-bridging 9-to 11-nm wide particles were somewhat coumellar-shaped and were arranged on a hexagonal lattice with an interparticle distance of 16nm. At higher magnification, they revealed an unstained core, thus suggesting a ringlike substructure. Similar arrays of paracrystal-containing veils, which were rather variable in size and frequency, were also observed in other cultured cells. It is hypothesized that these paracrystals represent protein macromolecular complexes associated with the inner plasma membrane surface which crystallize when plasma membranes come into close intracellular contact and other components of the subsurface network are removed.


1992 ◽  
Vol 47 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 929-931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio del Castillo-Olivares ◽  
Javier Márquez ◽  
Ignacio Núñez de Castro ◽  
Miguel Angel Medina

Ehrlich cell plasma membrane vesicles have a ferricyanide reductase activity that shows two phases. These two phases were kinetically characterized. Evidence is presented for a differential effect of trypsin on both phases


2003 ◽  
Vol 95 (4) ◽  
pp. 1446-1452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Palestini ◽  
Chiara Calvi ◽  
Elena Conforti ◽  
Rossella Daffara ◽  
Laura Botto ◽  
...  

We evaluated in anesthetized rabbits the compositional changes of plasmalemmal lipid microdomains from lung tissue samples after inducing pulmonary interstitial edema (0.5 ml/kg for 3 h, leading to ∼5% increase in extravascular water). Lipid microdomains (lipid rafts and caveolae) were present in the detergent-resistant fraction (DRF) obtained after discontinuous sucrose density gradient. DRF was enriched in caveolin-1, flotillin, aquaporin-1, GM1, cholesterol, sphingomyelin, and phosphatidylserine, and their contents significantly increased in interstitial edema. The higher DRF content in caveolin, flotillin, and aquaporin-1 and of the ganglioside GM1 suggests an increase both in caveolar domains and in lipid rafts, respectively. Compositional changes could be ascribed to endothelial and epithelial cells that provide most of plasma membrane surface area in the air-blood barrier. Alterations in lipid components in the plasma membrane may reflect rearrangement of floating lipid platforms within the membrane and/or lipid translocation from intracellular stores. Lipid traffic could be stimulated by the marked increase in hydraulic interstitial pressure after initial water accumulation, from approximately -10 to 5 cmH2O, due to the low compliance of the pulmonary tissue, in particular in the basement membranes and in the interfibrillar substance. Compositional changes in lipid microdomains represent a sign of cellular activation and suggest the potential role of mechanotransduction in response to developing interstitial edema.


1986 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
J R Apgar ◽  
M F Mescher

Plasma membranes of P815 mastocytoma cells contain a set of proteins that remain selectively insoluble upon extraction of the membranes with Triton X-100, and appear to form a membrane skeletal matrix independent of the filamentous cytoskeletal systems. EGTA treatment of the matrix was found to release approximately 25% of the protein as polypeptides of 70, 69, 38, and 36 kD, all of which appear to be peripheral components associated with the cytoplasmic face of the plasma membrane via divalent cation-dependent interactions. About 75% of the total matrix protein was recovered in the EGTA-insoluble fraction. Actin accounted for approximately 5% of the total protein in the EGTA-insoluble fraction. The rest was accounted for by two novel proteins of 20 and 40 kD which, despite their relatively low molecular weights, do not enter SDS PAGE gels. Together these proteins account for approximately 15% of the total plasma membrane protein, and are thus present in much higher amounts than any other characterized protein of nucleated cell plasma membranes. Based on the extensive associations of these proteins to form very large detergent-insoluble structures, we propose that they may be named agorin I, the 20-kD protein, and agorin II, the 40-kD protein, from the Greek agora meaning assembly. The amount and properties of these proteins and the appearance of the EGTA-insoluble material in thin-section electron micrographs indicate that the agorins are the major structural elements of the membrane matrix, and thus of the putative membrane skeleton.


1996 ◽  
Vol 314 (2) ◽  
pp. 687-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandy EDGECOMBE ◽  
Alexander G. McLENNAN ◽  
Michael J. FISHER

Diadenosine polyphosphates present in the extracellular environment can, through interaction with appropriate purinoceptors, influence a range of cellular activities. Here we have investigated the nature of the ligand:receptor interactions involved in diadenosine 5′,5″-P1,P4-tetraphosphate (Ap4A)-mediated stimulation of glycogen breakdown in isolated rat liver cells. [2-3H]Ap4A showed specific binding to both intact isolated liver cells and plasma membrane fractions prepared from isolated liver cells. HPLC analysis confirmed that binding was mediated by intact Ap4A and not by potential breakdown products (e.g. ATP, adenosine etc). Binding of [2-3H]Ap4A, to isolated liver cell plasma membrane preparations, was successfully displaced by a range of both naturally occurring and synthetic diadenosine polyphosphates with the rank order potency Ap4A ⩾Ap5A > Ap6A > Ap3A > Ap2A. [2-3H]Ap4A binding was not displaced by P1 effectors but was successfully displaced by a range of P2 effectors with the rank order potency 2-methylthio-ATP > ATP > ADP ⩾adenosine 5′-[αβ-methylene]triphosphate > adenosine 5′-[βγ-methylene]triphosphate. These findings are consistent with the interaction of Ap4A with a P2y-like subclass of purinoceptor and are discussed in relation to (1) the known purinoceptor populations in liver cell plasma membranes and (2) observations concerning the binding of diadenosine polyphosphates to purinoceptors in other tissues.


1988 ◽  
Vol 116 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. Bramley ◽  
G. S. Menzies

ABSTRACT Homogenates of human corpus luteum were fractionated on continuous sucrose density gradients, with and without pretreatment with digitonin to perturb plasma membranes. Fractions of each gradient were assayed for steroid content and a range of plasma membrane and intracellular organelle markers. Progesterone and oestradiol were associated with a particulate fraction (buoyant density, 1·08–1·13 g/cm3). The buoyant density distribution of these steroids was distinct from those of the luteal cell plasma membrane and intracellular organelle markers tested. Treatment with digitonin increased the buoyant density of both progesterone and oestradiol. If steroids are contained in distinct vesicles, these vesicles may be involved in the sequestration of newly synthesized steroid and its movement to the cell surface for release into the circulation. J. Endocr. (1988) 116, 307–312


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