Isolation and partial characterization of the rat liver ligandosome fraction

The subcellular distribution in rat liver of non-latent and latent NADH pyrophosphatase was determined by analytical sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Non-latent NADH pyrophosphatase activity was distributed similarly to the plasma membrane marker, 5′-nucleotidase. However, latent NADH pyrophosphatase was found at the low density region of the gradient, similar to the distribution of galactosyl transferase, a Golgi marker. A population of membranes, corresponding to those from the low density region, was prepared by discontinuous sucrose gradient centrifugation. Radiolabelled insulin was used, to monitor the involvement of these membranes in ligand internalization. The membrane perturbant, digitonin, was used to effect a partial separation between membranes bearing NADH pyrophosphatase and those bearing galactosyl transferase. The mechanism by which this separation is effected has been investigated and it was shown that, although digitonin caused a loss of enzyme latency, the density shift was not due to this effect. The partially purified ligandosome-rich fraction was characterized by enzymic and ultrastructural analysis. A novel EM cytochemical stain for NADH pyrophosphatase identified a vesicular fraction distinct from Golgi lamellae.