The ultrastructural distribution of the ganglioside GM1 was investigated in A431 cells. After fixation, the cells were frozen in liquid nitrogen, freeze-substituted, and then embedded in Lowicryl resin at -45°C. By use of the cholera toxin-binding subunit adsorbed to gold as a specific probe to label on the sections, GM1 was shown to be present in endocytic organelles, in the trans-Golgi network, and on the plasma membrane, but was not detectable in the endoplasmic reticulum. GM1 was not distributed uniformly over the plasma membrane but was concentrated approximately four-fold in non- coated invaginations. These were identified as caveolae by labeling frozen sections of cholera toxin-gold surface-labeled cells with antibodies to VIP- 21/caveolin. The results strengthen the functional analogy between caveolae and sorting domains of the TGN in polarized epithelial cells.
CITATION STYLE
Parton, R. G. (1994). Ultrastructural localization of gangliosides; GM1 is concentrated in caveolae. Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, 42(2), 155–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/42.2.8288861
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