TY - JOUR
T1 - Absence of filipin-sterol complexes from the membranes of active zones and acetylcholine receptor aggregates at frog neuromuscular junctions
AU - Nakajima, Y.
AU - Bridgman, P. C.
PY - 1981
Y1 - 1981
N2 - The polyene antibiotic filipin reacts specifically with membrane cholesterol and produces distinctive membrane lesions. We treated frog cutaneous pectoris and sartorius muscles with 0.04% filipin in a glutaraldehyde solution with or without prefixation with glutaraldehyde. Freeze-fracture of these muscles revealed numerous 19 to 38-nm protuberances and depressions (filipin-sterol complexes) in most areas of muscle, axon, and Schwann cell membranes. In the presynaptic membrane, however, these filipin-sterol complexes were absent from active zones consisting of ridges bordered with double rows of particles. In the postsynaptic membrane, filipin-sterol complexes were also virtually absent from the areas occupied by aggregates of large particles representing acetylcholine receptors. These results suggest that the membrane regions of active zones and acetylcholine receptor aggregates have a low cholesterol content.
AB - The polyene antibiotic filipin reacts specifically with membrane cholesterol and produces distinctive membrane lesions. We treated frog cutaneous pectoris and sartorius muscles with 0.04% filipin in a glutaraldehyde solution with or without prefixation with glutaraldehyde. Freeze-fracture of these muscles revealed numerous 19 to 38-nm protuberances and depressions (filipin-sterol complexes) in most areas of muscle, axon, and Schwann cell membranes. In the presynaptic membrane, however, these filipin-sterol complexes were absent from active zones consisting of ridges bordered with double rows of particles. In the postsynaptic membrane, filipin-sterol complexes were also virtually absent from the areas occupied by aggregates of large particles representing acetylcholine receptors. These results suggest that the membrane regions of active zones and acetylcholine receptor aggregates have a low cholesterol content.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0019515221&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1083/jcb.88.2.453
DO - 10.1083/jcb.88.2.453
M3 - Article
C2 - 6970746
AN - SCOPUS:0019515221
SN - 0021-9525
VL - 88
SP - 453
EP - 458
JO - Journal of Cell Biology
JF - Journal of Cell Biology
IS - 2
ER -