Protocol is based on methods for the resolution of GLUT4
containing vesicles and the identification of phosphoinositide kinase containing vesicles in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. They may have a wider application to any low-medium density membranes. Protocol incorporates the strategy of using a low density microsome fraction as the gradient input, commonly
used in GLUT 4 studies that may have a wider application to other investigations. - [Read Analysis of Membrane Trafficking and Intracellular Signaling in Self-Generated Iodixanol Gradients]
Techniques on how to create gradients of iodixanol for the fractionation of mammalian cells. These gradients can be generated as pre-formed discontinuous or continuous gradients. These gradients are invariably run in swinging-bucket rotors in low-speed centrifuges. - [Read C2 Preparation of pre-formed iodixanol gradients for mammalian cells.]
OptiPrep Application sheet C14 describes procedures for determining the density and sedimenting properties of any cell (of any size or density) using either a continuous or discontinuous gradient of iodixanol. This Application Sheet describes procedures aimed at isolating specifically a relatively low-density cell fraction from any tissue. - [Read C25 Isolation from spleen, thymus, pancreas, alveolar tissue and other tissues]
The protocol described in this protocol has been used principally for analyzing the Golgi, endoplasmic reticulum and trans-Golgi network but markers for other compartments (e.g.
ERGIC and endosomes) have also been analyzed. Modifications either to the gradient density range or the centrifugation conditions influence the ability of the gradient to resolve multiple compartments. - [Read Fractionation of Golgi, ER, TGN and Other Membrane Compartments in Pre-Formed Iodixanol Gradients]
A number of density gradient strategies have been developed for the fractionation of human erythrocytes according to their age. As the cells age, so their density tends to increase; reticulocytes therefore tend to have the lowest densities. Reticulocytes have frequently been partially purified on discontinuous gradients of arabinogalactan; the actual density range being quite varied, from quite broad ones. - [Read Fractionation of Human Erythrocytes (Normal or Sickle) and Reticulocytes in Discontinuous Iodixanol]
Generally in iodixanol gradients the density of organelles decreases in the series: peroxisomes, mitochondria, lysosomes, ER, Golgi, although in Dictyostelium discoideum, the lysosomes are denser than the mitochondria. Iodixanol gradients can usually provide satisfactory resolution of all these membrane particles although it may be necessary to modulate either the gradient or centrifugation parameters in order to optimize a particular separation. - [Read Fractionation of Mitochondria, Lysosomes, Peroxisomes, ER and Golgi in Pre-formed Iodixanol Gradient]
Fractionation of (a) vacuolar and subvacuolar vesicles and (b) vacuole and cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (Cvt) vesicles from yeast spheroplasts in a pre-formed discontinuous iodixanol gradients. Protocol includes: Formation of yeast spheroplasts; Isolation and vesiculation of the vacuoles; Separation of the vacuolar and subvacuolar vesicles; Separation of vacuoles and Cvt vesicles from a yeast spheroplast lysate. - [Read Fractionation of Vacuolar and Subvacuolar vesicles and Vacuole and Cytoplasm-to-Vacuole Targeting]
This protocol is concerned with the use of iodixanol gradients in an analytical mode to study the membrane localization of a particular protein or function. Continuous gradients are best suited to this task. One of the protocols described in this protocol starts with a discontinuous gradient, but since the gradient is centrifuged at 174,000g for 16 h it will become continuous by diffusion. - [Read Fractionation of Yeast Membranes in Pre-Formed Continuous Iodixanol Gradients]
A discontinuous gradient of iodixanol is used in which the crude mitochondrial fraction is layered beneath the preformed
gradient. In this protocol the osmolality of the gradient is approx 600 mOsm and the crude mitochondrial fraction is loaded in 40% iodixanol rather than 50% iodixanol. - [Read Isolation of Yeast Mitochondria in aPre-Formed Iodixanol Gradient]
Purification protocols of the viruses: HIV-1, Lassa virus, oncornavirus and other retroviruses. Protocol uses an iodixanol gradient in a sedimentation velocity mode to purifyHIV-1 virions without affecting the infectivity of the virus. In rate-zonal iodixanol gradients the HIV-1 was effectively separated both from Vif and from the microvesicles. - [Read M5 Velocity (rate zonal) gradients for purification and assembly analysis of viruses.]
The first part of the isolation procedure is a flotation through a continuous iodixanol gradient; this gradient is essentially a resolving gradient in which the caveolin-rich vesicles are concentrated in the top third of the gradient, while the predominantly caveolin-poor vesicles band in denser regions. A second discontinuous gradient is essentially a concentration gradient to band the caveolin-rich vesicles sharply at an interface. - [Read Purification of Caveolae Membranes from a Plasma Membrane Fraction of Cultured Cells and Tissues]
This protocol uses a "light mitochondrial" pellet from a mammalian liver homogenate. The gradient thus has to resolve a variety of denser components (peroxisomes, lysosomes, mitochondria) from the Golgi membranes, which have a low density in iodixanol (1.06-1.09 g/ml) [1]. The protocol is
specifically tailored to the purification of Golgi membranes from this pellet and is unsuitable for the isolation or analysis of other organelles present in the light mitochondrial fraction. - [Read Purification of Golgi Membranes from a Light Mitochondrial Fraction in a Self-Generated Gradient]
Peroxisomes can be purified in self-generated iodixanol gradients in high yield (80-90%) with no detectable contamination from any other organelle. In iodixanol peroxisomes are the densest of the major subcellular organelles (ρ = 1.18-1.20 g/ml) present in the light mitochondrial fraction from
mammalian tissues and cells. - [Read Purification of Peroxisomes in a Self-Generated Gradient]
Peroxisomes can be purified in iodixanol gradients in high yield (80-90%) with no detectable contamination from any other organelle. This is a property unique to iodixanol because the
densities of other organelles, particularly that of mitochondria (approx ρ = 1.14 g/ml) and endoplasmic reticulum (approx ρ = 1.13 g/ml) are much lower than that of peroxisomes (approx ρ = 1.18 g/ml). - [Read Purification of Peroxisomes using a Density Barrier in a Swinging-Bucket Rotor]
In the routine method described in this protocol, chylomicron-free plasma is adjusted to 12% (w/v) iodixanol and the sample, essentially fills an approx 3 ml tube for a near-vertical rotor. During the centrifugation VLDL, LDL and HDL particles and also plasma proteins migrate from all parts of the sample to their final buoyant density banding position in the self-forming density gradient. - [Read Subfractionation of Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL)]