Isolation of carotenoid-containing subcellular structures from mollusk nerve tissue]

A subcellular fraction with a high share of carotenoids (about 150 mkg/mg of protein) was obtained from the nerve tissue of Lymnaea stagnalis, the fractionation being made by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The quantity of carotenoids extracted from fractions was estimated spectrophotometrically. The electron microscope observations demonstrated the presence of structures analogous to fraction components in the mollusc neurones and similar to some kinds of plant chromplasts (carotenoidplasts).