Isolation and properties of an actomyosin-like protein from glial cells of bovine brain

Abstract

An enriched fraction of glial cells was isolated by centrifugation in a Ficollsucrose density gradient from bovine cerebral cortical tissue, and an actomyosinlike protein (AMLP) was obtained from it. The yield of the AMLP was 0.05% relative to glial cell protein. The AMLP was found to contain bound nucleotides and to give reversible association-dissociation reactions characteristic of AMLP under the influence of Mg2+ ions and ATP. ATPase of glial AMLP, which is activated by Ca2+ ions by a greater degree than Mg2+, differs from the AMLP of neuronal origin.