Solubilization of ligand-stabilized vasopressin receptors from plasma membranes of bovine kidney and rat liver

The solubilization of vasopressin receptors from plasma membranes of bovine kidney and rat liver by different detergents was investigated. A prerequisite for the extraction of vasopressin receptors retaining binding affinity for their ligand was the stabilization of the receptors by the prior formation of the membrane-bound hormone-receptor complexes. The vasopressin-receptor complexes from both kidney and liver membranes were solubilized in a high yield with dodecyl-beta-D-maltoside and 3-laurylamido-N,N'-dimethylpropylaminoxide. Several other nonionic detergents including octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside effectively extracted the hepatic vasopressin receptor. For the hormone-receptor complex solubilized from bovine kidney with dodecyl-beta-D-maltoside, a Stokes' radius of 5.8 nm was determined.