Isolation of highly purified, functional endosomes from toad urinary bladder.

ABSTRACT: Endosomes are difficult to isolate as they share size and density properties with much more abundant cellular organelles such as mitochondria. In cultured cell lines the tandem use of charge-dependent isolation techniques and differential centrifugation is necessary to isolate endosomes. Endosomal populations of the toad urinary bladder are of special interest because they are thought to contain a water channel. Understanding of the molecular structure of the water channel has been constrained, as there is currently no practical method to isolate functional water-channel-containing vesicles. This study reports the tandem use of charge-dependent techniques and centrifugation to isolate populations of endosomes from the toad urinary bladder. To purify water-channel-containing vesicles aqueous two-phase partition was utilized to fractionate a preparation partially purified by differential centrifugation. Populations of endosomes were analysed by small-particle flow cytometry techniques. A 5-fold enrichment in endosomes, achieved with aqueous two-phase partition, allowed us to identify two populations of endosomes of diverse size in a toad bladder endosomal fraction. Preenrichment also improved the efficiency of flow cytometry sorting, allowing isolation of the two endosomal populations in sufficient quantities for secondary analysis. A population of larger endosomes had very high water permeability, indicating the presence of water channels. The two populations had different SDS/PAGE fingerprints. Electron micrographs of the flow-sorted material shows a uniform population of membrane vesicles devoid of mitochondria and other identifiable cellular organelles. Hence, aqueous two-phase partition and flow cytometry allow identification of two populations of endosomes in the toad urinary bladder which have diverse structural and functional properties. Isolation of functional water-channel-containing vesicles allows co-localization of water-channel function with candidate water-channel proteins.

SUBMITTER: Hammond TG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1134904 | biostudies-other | 1993 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other