Fractionation of liver plasma membranes prepared by zonal centrifugation

1. Plasma membranes were isolated from crude nuclear sediments from mouse and rat liver by a rate-dependent centrifugation through a sucrose density gradient contained in the ;A' type zonal rotor. 2. The membranes were further purified by isopycnic centrifugation, and characterized enzymically, chemically and morphologically. 3. When the plasma-membrane fraction of sucrose density 1.17g/cm(3) was dispersed in a tight-fitting homogenizer, two subfractions of densities 1.12 and 1.18 were obtained by isopycnic centrifugation. 4. The light subfraction contained 5'-nucleotidase, nucleoside diphosphatase, leucine naphthylamidase and Mg(2+)-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase activities at higher specific activities than unfractionated membranes. The heavy subfraction was deficient in the above enzymes but contained higher Na(+)+K(+)-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase activity. 5. The light subfraction contained twice as much phospholipid and cholesterol, and three times as much N-acetylneuraminic acid relative to unit protein weight as the heavy subfraction. Polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis indicated differences in protein composition. 6. Electron microscopy showed the light subfraction to be vesicular. The heavy subfraction contained membrane strips with junctional complexes in addition to vesicles.     

Highly purified plasma membranes from rat hepatocytes following rate-isopycnic zonal centrifugation

Plasma membranes from liver parenchymal cells were isolated by rate-isopycnic zonal centrifugation. A method is described for the Beckman size 15 zonal rotor. It involved preparation from a perfused liver of a parenchymal cell-enriched homogenate in isoosmotic sucrose. The nuclear fraction containing membranes was recovered by centrifugation. The resuspended pellet was applied on the gradient of the zonal rotor. The isolated membranes had the same isopycnic banding density as 37% sucrose (w/w). The specific activity of 5′-nucleotidase, a widely used plasma membrane marker, was 105 μmoles·(mg protein)^?1·h^?1 being enriched by a factor of 50 as compared with parenchymal cell homogenate. The plasma membrane fraction was free of the mitochondrial and lysosomal enzymes, succinate dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase. No DNA and 10 μg RNA per mg plasma membrane protein were found. The purity of the membranes and their morphological appearance were controlled by electron microscopy. The preparation consisting of large membrane sheets showed a considerable purification away from other cellular components. A comparison with similar methods indicates that plasma membranes of a higher degree of purity can be obtained from parenchymal cells.     

The distribution of some hydrolases in glomeruli and tubular fragments prepared from rat kidney by zonal centrifugation

1. A collagenase digest of rat kidney cortex was separated into four bands by zonal centrifugation. 2. Two of these bands were shown by light-microscopy to contain glomeruli and tubular fragments, which were free from each other and well separated from other renal material. 3. Protein, N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase, 5'-nucleotidase, l-leucine beta-naphthylamidase, leucine aminopeptidase, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase were assayed across the gradient. 4. The greater proportion of these enzyme activities was recovered in the tubular fragments and acid phosphatase was the only enzyme detected in significant amounts in the glomeruli. 5. Tubular fragments and glomeruli were sedimented and multiple forms of beta-naphthylamidase, N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase were investigated by starch-gel electrophoresis.     

Isolation of rat liver plasma membranes by zonal centrifugation: increased yield with Ca2+

Rat liver plasma membranes were isolated by zonal centrifugation after homogenization of the livers in a Ca²⁺ containing medium. The yield was 37.5%, based on the recovery of 5′-nucleotidase. The membrane purity as judged enzymatically and by electron microscopy was superior to that reported for other procedures.     

Distribution of selected phospholipid modifying enzymes in rat brain microsomal subfractions prepared by density gradient zonal rotor centrifugation

A rat brain P₃ fraction enriched in ER derived microsomes was centrifuged through a 20–40% linear sucrose gradient in a Beckman Ti-14 Zonal rotor and 11 fractions were obtained. The distribution of marker enzyme activities and protein were determined in these 11 subfractions. NADPH-Cytochrome C reductase, choline phosphotransferase were employed for endoplasmic reticulum, Na⁺, K⁺-ATPase, 5-nucleotidase, and acetylcholinesterase were employed for plasma membrane, 2, 3-cyclic nucleotide phosphohydrolase was employed for myelin. The bulk of the protein was recovered in the 24–34% sucrose fractions, Na⁺, K⁺-ATPase, 5-nucleotidase, and acetylcholinesterase were in the 22–38% sucrose fractions while NADPH-cytochrome C reductase and CNPase were enriched in the 20–22% sucrose fractions. The ethanolamine and the serine base exchange activities had a bimodal distribution, with highest specific activities in sucrose fractions 32–34% and 20–24%. Choline base exchange activity was nearly undetectable in all the fractions. The specific activities of CDP-choline phosphotransferase, and phospholipid-N-methyltransferase were highest in the 20–22% sucrose fraction. Phospholipid-N-methyltransferase activity was significantly stimulated in the presence of exogenous phospholipid acceptors as phosphatidylethanolamine or phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine or phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine, however, the greatest response was with phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine. The rat brain P₃ fraction yielded a population of a membrane at the light end of the sucrose gradient which has a buoyant density similar to myelin but seemed to be enriched with NADPN cytochrome C reductase and phospholipid modifying enzymes. This is in contrast to liver microsomes submitted to a similar fractionation.     

Biochemical heterogeneity of rat liver mitochondria separated by rate zonal centrifugation

1. Rat liver mitochondria were separated on the basis of their sedimentation coefficients in an iso-osmotic gradient of Ficoll–sucrose by rate zonal centrifugation. The fractions (33, each of 40ml) were collected in order of decreasing density. Fractions were analysed by spectral analysis to determine any differences in the concentrations of the cytochromes and by enzyme analyses to ascertain any differences in the activities of NADH dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase and α-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase. 2. When plotted as% of the highest specific concentration, the contents of cytochrome a+a₃ and cytochrome c+c₁ were constant in all fractions but cytochrome b was only 65% of its maximal concentration in fraction 7 and increased with subsequent fractions. As a result, the cytochrome b/cytochrome a+a₃ ratio almost doubled between fractions 7 and 25 whereas the cytochrome c+c₁/cytochrome a+a₃ ratio was unchanged. 3. Expression of the dehydrogenase activities as% of highest specific activity showed the following for fractions 6–26: NADH dehydrogenase activity remained fairly constant in all fractions; succinate dehydrogenase activity was 62% in fraction 6 and increased steadily to its maximum in fraction 18 and then decreased; the activity of α-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase was only 53% in fraction 6 and increased slowly to its peak in fractions 22 and 24. 4. These differences did not result from damaged or fragmented mitochondria or from microsomal contamination. 5. These results demonstrate that isolated liver mitochondria are biochemically heterogeneous. The importance of using a system for separating biochemically different mitochondria in studies of mitochondrial biogenesis is discussed.     

The characterization of the non-histone chromosomal proteins of the main classes of nuclei from rat brain fractionated by zonal centrifugation

1. Non-histone chromosomal proteins were isolated from the cell nuclei of whole rat brain and nuclei from different types of brain cells. 2. Brain nuclei were fractionated by zonal centrifugation into five zones deriving from five main categories of brain cells. These are the neuronals, astrocytes I, astrocytes II, oligodendrocytes I and oligodendrocytes II. 3. The non-histone chromosomal proteins were analysed by (a) sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, (b) electrofocusing electrophoresis and (c) two-dimensional electrophoresis. The results of this analysis showed a limited specific pattern of non-histone chromosomal proteins from the different classes of nuclei. Differences were found to exist between the proteins from neuronal and glial nuclei. In particular one polypeptide band with mol.wt. 10000 and pI8.5 was found to be present in the non-histone protein fractions of neuronal nuclei, and absent from the corresponding fractions of nearly all the other classes of nuclei. 4. Two other classes of nuclear proteins, buffered-saline-soluble and 0.35m-NaCl-soluble, were analysed by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis along with the non-histone chromosomal. The similarities and differences among these groups of proteins are discussed. 5. The patterns of non-histone chromosomal proteins during development were investigated by studying them in two age groups of animals: in infant rats (10 days old) and adult rats. The polypeptide that was found to be specific for the proteins of neuronal nuclei of adult rats is present in all the classes of nuclei of infant rats.     

Preparation of neurons and glial cells from rat brain by zonal centrifugation

A method for routine preparation of cell fractions from rat brain is described. A suspension of undamaged cells was obtained by means of a combined enzymatic and mechanical procedure. The cell yield was about 25% of brain DNA.     

The fractionation of nuclei from mammalian cells by zonal centrifugation

1. Purified liver nuclei from adult rats separate into two main zones when centrifuged in the slow-speed zonal rotor. One zone contains diploid nuclei, the other tetraploid. 2. The effect of age on the pattern of rat liver ploidy was examined. Tetraploid nuclei are virtually absent from young animals. They increase in proportion steadily with age. Partial hepatectomy disturbs the pattern of ploidy. 3. The zonal centrifuge permits the separation of diploid, tetraploid, octaploid and hexadecaploid nuclei from mouse liver. 4. Rat liver nuclei are isopycnic with sucrose solutions of density 1.35 at 5 degrees .     

Quantitative isolation of liver mitochondria by zonal centrifugation

A method was developed using zonal centrifugation to recover liver mitochondria quantiatively and free of other cellular components from a sample of whole homogenate. The fractions containing mitochondria were identified by the distribution of cytochrome oxidase and these fractions contained over 90% of the total cytochrome oxidase recovered. The mitochondrial fractions were found to be only slightly contaminated by 5′-nucleotidase (plasma membranes), acid phosphatase (lysosomes), glucose-6-phosphatase (microsomes), and catalase (peroxisomes). There was no detectable contamination by nuclear DNA (nuclei). This method was used to quantitate total liver mitochondrial protein. The development of this procedure provides a means for following total changes in mitochondrial components during mitochondrial biogenesis.     

Synchronization of Escherichia coli by zonal centrifugation.

A zonal centrifugation technique that can select the smallest newborn cells in an exponentially growing culture of Escherichia coli B/r is described.     

Properties of ATPase of gastric mucosa V. Preparation of membranes and mitochondria by zonal centrifugation

Using zonal sucrose density gradient centrifugation methods to fractionate the subcellular components in gastric mucosal homogenates have been developed. Methods are described which give high yield or rapidity in fractionation. A procedure is described which enables large-scale preparations of smooth walled vesicular membranes containing HCO₃^?-ATPase activity free from mitochondrial contamination as assessed by electron microscopic morphology and undetectable succinic dehydrogenase or monoamine oxidase activity. A method to purify gastric mitochondria is also described.