The role of spectrin in erythrocyte membrane-stimulated actin polymerisation.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C M Cohen.
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Erythrocyte membranes isolated on polylysine-coated glass beads exhibit many of the properties of the native membrane. Gel electrophoresis indicates that all major protein components of the membrane are retained during membrane isolation. The membrane integrity and accessibility of selected components was tested using non-penetrating probes. In general, membranes on beads displayed accessibility properties typical of inside-out vesicles. The accessibility of membrane acetylcholinesterase to assay reagents, as well as membrane accessibility to the actions of neuraminidase, trypsin and galactose oxidase-NaB3H4 demonstrated that the protoplasmic surface of membrane isolated on beads was exposed, while the extracellular surface was inaccessible. The differential accessibility of the membrane surfaces demonstrates the feasibility of investigating asymmetry of membranes isolated on cationic glass beads.
Chemically tritiated actin from rabbit skeletal muscle was used to investigate the association of G-actin with the red cell membrane. The tritiated actin was shown to be identical to unmodified actin in its ability to polymerize and to activate heavy meromyosin ATPase. Using sealed and unsealed red cell ghosts we have shown that G-actin binds to the cytoplasmic but not the extracellular membrane surface of ghosts. Inside-out vesicles which have been stripped of endogenous actin and spectrin by low-ionic-strength incubation bind little G-actin. However, when a crude spectrin extract containing primarily spectrin, actin, and band 4.1 is added back to stripped vesicles, subsequent binding of G-actin can be increased up to 40-fold. Further, this crude spectrin extract can compete for and abolish G-actin binding to unsealed ghosts. Actin binding to ghosts increases linearly with added G-actin and requires the presence of magnesium. In addition, actin binding is inhibited by cytochalasin B and DNAase I. Negative staining reveals an abundance of actin filaments formed when G-actin is added to reconstituted inside-out vesicles but none when it is added to unreconstituted vesicles. These observations indicate that added G-actin binds to the red cell membrane via filament formation nucleated by some membrane component at the cytoplasmic surface.
We studied the exchange of cholesterol between radioactively labeled plasma and human erythrocytes. Results from experiments in which [3H]cholesterol and [14C]-cholesterol were exchanged sequentially into the cells and back out into unlabeled plasma, showed that transmembrane movement of cholesterol occurred with a half-time that was either less than 50 min or greater than 10 days. To obtain further information about the transmembrane movement of cholesterol, we used a technique [Jacobson, B. S. & Branton, D. (1977) Science 195, 302-304] for exposure of the cytoplasmic surface of erythrocyte membranes. This method involved the ionic attachment of erythrocytes to derivatized glass beads followed by disruption of the cells, leaving the beads covered by membrane with the cytoplasmic surface exposed [3H]Cholesterol was exchanged into intact erythrocytes which then were attached to beads. The beads with attached membrane were incubated with phospholipid-cholesterol vesicles and the exchange of cholesterol between the membrane cytoplasmic surface and vesicles was studied. We found that [3H]cholesterol was present at the cytoplasmic surface, indicating that transmembrane movement of cholesterol had occurred within the 2.5 hr required to complete the experiment. This result suggests that the more rapid rate of transmembrane cholesterol movement, inferred from the experiments described above, is the one that applies.
HeLa cell plasma membranes have been purified after binding cells to polylysine-coated polyacrylamide beads. Cell attachment to beads and membrane recovery were maximal in a sucrose-acetate buffer, pH 5.0, at 25 degrees C. Measurements of ouabain-sensitive NaK-adenosine triphosphatase, membrane-bound 125I-wheat germ agglutinin, and chemical analyses showed that membranes on beads were of comparable or greater purity than membranes isolated by conventional methods. Because the isolation procedure is rapid (approximately 2.5 h), and produces membranes whose protoplasmic surfaces are fully exposed, it should be a useful supplement to standard isolation techniques.
To determine whether ligand-receptor interactions could engender the selective uptake by deficient cells of enzyme-laden liposomes, aggregated human IgG was used to coat liposomes which had previously trapped purified hexosaminidase A (Hex A). By a new, high-yield procedure, Hex A was purified 7000-fold from human placenta: the homogeneous protein had a pI of 5.4, permitting nonelectrostatic trapping in the aqueous interstices of anionic multilamellar liposomes (molar ratios of phosphatidyl-choline-dicetyl phosphate-cholesterol, 7:2:1). Trapped Hex A was separated from free enzyme by means of Sephadex G-200 chromatography: 1.3 +/- 0.3 mUnits of Hex A/mumol of phospholipid became associated with liposomes and trapped glucose, utilized as a marker of the aqueous compartment. Once sequestered, the enzyme remained latent until lamellae were disrupted by Triton X-100. Presence of enzyme in aqueous compartments was proved by the demonstration of increased trapping (0.02-1.33 mUnits/mumol of phospholipid) with increments in like-sign repulsion of the bilayers produced by increasing molar ratios of anionic dicetyl phosphate (5-20%). To provide for ligand-receptor interaction with surface Fc receptors of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN's), liposomes were coated by heat-aggregated (62 degrees C, 10 min) human IgG. PMN's from Tay-Sachs patients genetically deficient in Hex A activity readily incorporated exogenous Hex A provided in this fashion. PMN's exposed to enzyme-laden liposomes coated with aggregated IgG incorporated significantly more Hex A than when the enzyme was presented in uncoated liposomes or in liposomes coated with native IgG, which engages Fc receptors with less avidity. Free enzyme was not endocytized. Acquisition of specific Hex A isozyme activity by cells (determined by DEAE-cellulose chromatography) was not due to surface adsorption since cytochalasin B, which prevents phagocytosis but not surface adherence; blocked uptake. Incorporation of the isozyme by deficient cells was also demonstrated by starch gel electrophoresis, and ultrastructural studies showed that the immunoglobulin-coated, Hex A-containing liposomes were taken up into PMN lysosomes after membrane fusion. The studies indicate that liposomes coated with surface ligands may be used to introduce enzyme or other materials into deficient cells possessing appropriate surface receptors.
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