The Purification of Plasma Membranes from Guinea Pig Peritoneal Macrophages

Abstract

The plasma membrane undoubtedly plays an important role at the intracellular level as well as in the relationship of the cell with the surrounding environment. Therefore, it is of considerable interest to separate this membrane from other subcellular organelles before studying its specific function. The majority of mammalian cell membrane preparations described in the literature are generally obtained from organs, particularly the liver. Several authors have employed homogeneous cell suspensions (6). Nachman et al. (11) described a method for isolating plasma membranes from rabbit alveolar macrophages. It is known that macrophages participate in the defense of the organism, e.g. in inflammatory processes and in immune responses. The participation of the cell membrane in these biological phenomena is often recognized but ill-defined. Since we are interested in macrophage surface receptors, it is of great importance to work with purified membrane preparations. So we decided to initially develop a technique for the fractionation of guinea pig peritoneal macrophages, modifying the experimental procedure of Nachman et al. (11).