Immunochemical studies on the large polypeptide of electrophorus electroplax (Na+ + K+)-ATPase

Ion-transporting properties and ATPase activity of (Na+ + K+)-ATPase large subunit incorporated into bilayer lipid membranes

A purified (Na+ + K+)-ATPase large subunit obtained from microsomes by water-alcohol extraction was incorporated into a bilayer lipid membrane. The protein formed in the membrane conductance channels which were sensitive to ouabain and selective for monovalent cations. ATP activated these channels in the presence of sodium and potassium ions. When sodium ions were eliminated ATP did not change the conductance of the modified membrane whereas p-nitrophenyl phosphate increased it. The (Na+ + K+)-ATPase large subunit incorporated into bilayer lipid membrane possessed an ATPase activity. The presence of a potential on the membrane was a necessary condition for the enzyme incorporated into a bilayer lipid membrane to show high ATPase activity. Increasing the potential above 100 mV resulted in the closing of conductance channels.

Immunocytochemical localization of sodium channel distributions in the excitable membranes of Electrophorus electricus

The tetrodotoxin binding protein, a major component of the Na+ channel, has been purified from the electric organ of the South American eel Electrophorus electricus. Antibodies to this protein were raised in rabbits and their specificity was demonstrated by a highly sensitive radioimmunoassay and by immunoprecipitation procedures. These antibodies were used to examine the distribution of the binding protein in the eel electroplax membranes and along myelinated nerve axons. The distribution of the antigen was determined by using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique at both the light and electron microscopic levels. In the electrocytes of the electric organ, only the innervated face showed staining in experimental material. The stained regions of electroplax plasmalemma included the caveolae of the innervated surface while caveolae of the non-innervated surface did not stain. Thus, the innervated surface including caveolae exclusively contains the Na+ channels. Along myelinated axons, staining was limited to the nodal zone of the node of Ranvier. The paranodal and internodal zones did not stain for the binding protein. Limited diffusion of primary IgG and subsequent reactants into the paranodal and internodal sites was eliminated as a possible source of focal staining at nodes because mechanically demyelinated preparations also exhibited focal nodal staining. Thus, this tetrodotoxin binding protein component of the Na+ channel is located solely within the nodal zone of the node of Ranvier.

Characteristics of antibodies to guinea pig (Na+ + K+)-adenosine triphosphatase and their use in cell-free synthesis studies

Antibodies have been produced, in three rabbits, to Na/K-ATPase purified from guinea pig renal outer medulla. Each rabbit produced antibodies to both the alpha (catalytic) and the beta (glycoprotein) subunits of Na/K-ATPase. The titers of the anti-alpha and anti-beta antibodies varied with time and between rabbits. None of the antisera inhibited Na/K-ATPase activity under various preincubation conditions. A method is presented for separating small amounts of anti-alpha subunit from anti-beta subunit antibodies. There was no cross-reactivity of antibodies to one subunit with the other subunit. The alpha subunit of the Na/K-ATPase was cleaved into a 41,000-dalton peptide (that contains the ATP phosphorylating site) and a 58,000-dalton hydrophobic peptide as described by Castro and Farley (Castro, J., Farley, R.A., 1979, J. Biol. Chem. 254: 2221-2228). Anti-alpha antibodies from all of the rabbits reacted with both proteolytic fragments. The anti-guinea pig Na/K-ATPase antisera (pooled) cross-reacted with the alpha subunit of Na/K-ATPase from human, cow, dog, rabbit, rat, mouse, turtle, and toad; and with the beta subunit from human, rat, and mouse. The loci of cross-reactivity were investigated using partially purified canine kidney Na/K-ATPase cleaved with trypsin as described above. The anti-sera from rabbits 1 and 2 cross-reacted with the 41,000-dalton peptide from the dog but very little with the 58,000-dalton peptide. No cross-reactivity was observed with antiserum from rabbit 3 to either fragment. Guinea pig kidney RNA was translated in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate system followed by immunoprecipitation with the antisera. The molecular weight of the cell-free synthesized alpha chain was 96,000 daltons. Its identity was established with purified anti-alpha antibodies and by immunocompetition with purified Na/K-ATPase and Ca-ATPase. Translation of the beta subunit was not detected in this system.

Immunochemical evidence for a transmembrane orientation of both the (Na+, K+)-ATPase subunits

Antibodies were raised against the large catalytic subunit (apparent Mr 96000) and the glycoprotein (apparent Mr 60000) of the sodium- and potassium-dependent adenosine triphosphatase [(Na+, K+)-ATPase] from Bufo marinus. The specificity of each antiserum was assessed by two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis using toad kidney microsomes or the purified holoenzyme as a source of antigen and by indirect immunoprecipitation of detergent-solubilized (Na+, K+)-ATPase subunits from radioiodinated or biosynthetically labeled kidney holoenzyme, microsomes, or postnuclear supernatant. The anticatalytic subunit serum reacted exclusively with a 96000-dalton protein. The antiserum to the glycoprotein was rendered specific to this subunit by absorption with purified catalytic subunit. The two antisera were agglutinating and lytic in the presence of complement when toad erythrocytes were used as targets, indicating that antigenic determinants of both subunits were exposed on the cell surface. The specific reactivities with surface-exposed antigenic determinants of both subunits could be absorbed with toad red blood cells. Such absorbed antisera still reacted with detergent-treated or untreated kidney microsomes, revealing the presence of cytoplasmic and/or intramembranous antigenic sites. Our immunochemical data demonstrate that the glycoprotein subunit of (Na+, K+)-ATPase spans the lipid bilayer and confirm the transmembrane orientation of the catalytic subunit postulated from functional studies.

Immunocytochemical localization of (Na+, K+)-ATPase in the goldfish optic nerve

Antiserum to the catalytic subunit of goldfish brain (Na+, K+)-ATPase has been employed at the electron microscopic level by means of the peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunohistochemical method. In optic nerve, antigenic sites are restricted to the nodes of Ranvier. No reaction product is detected in underlying internodal neurolemma. Outgrowing neurites for cultured retinal explants devoid of glial ensheathment exhibit a continuous distribution of the enzyme subunit. Antibodies against eel electroplax (Na+, K+)-ATPase cross-react with the goldfish brain enzyme and show a similar immunocytochemical distribution pattern.

Immunocytochemical localization of the sodium, potassium activated ATPase in knifefish brain

Results presented in this paper demonstrate the feasibility of using immunocytochemical methods to localize the (Na+ + K+)-ATPase, and its subunits, in the C.N.S. We have shown that in the Black Ghost knifefish, Sternarchus albifrons, the enzyme is located on the plasma membrane of the somata and dendrites of neurons and on the somata and cellular processes of glia. In myelinated axons the enzyme is restricted in localization to those portions of the axolemma not covered by the myelin sheath. The capacity of cell plasma membranes to restrict mobility of functionally important proteins should be considered in models of membrane structure in which lateral mobility of membrane components is considered a major characteristic.