The isolation of plasma membrane from frog cardiac muscle cells

Abstract

A vesicular preparation consisting largely of the plasma membrane of frog cardiac cells was isolated and its enzymatic activities and lipid content were investigated. The enriched plasma membrane preparation was obtained by (1) mildly homogenizing washed ventricles, (2) separating away the cellular debris by low speed differential centrifugation, (3) separating the plasma membrane fraction from other membranous components by centrifugation to equilibrium in various sucrose gradients. The frog cardiac plasma membranes were found to be concentrated between specific gravities of 1.07 and 1.11. In the membrane fraction the specific activities of membrane marker enzymes: 5′-nucleotides (EC 3.1.3.5), alklaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) and Na +: K +)-activated ATPase were, respectively, 19, 15, and 14 times greater than in the homogenate. Activities of mitochondrial marker enzymes were either very low or absent. No unusual lipid types were found. Cardiolipin was less than 0.1% (by wt) in the membrane fraction. The molar ratio of phospholipid to cholesterol was approximatley 3 : 2.