Electrophoretic investigation of brain proteins of mice with congential microphthalmia

Abstract

Soluble and membrane proteins of the cerebral cortex of normal mice (line C57BL/6J) and mice with microphthalmia (line OR-OR) were investigated by disk electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel at pH 8.9. The membrane proteins were solubilized with 1 % Triton X-100 and 0.1 % sodium dodecylsulfate solutions. Significant differences were found in the composition of the proteins extracted with sodium dodecylsulfate in the normal and congenitally blind mice. Thirteen separate fractions were isolated from the proteins of these cortical extracts of normal mice, but only 11 protein fractions were found in the same brain extracts from the mice with microphthalmia. No differences in principle were found in the character of distribution or the content of the protein fractions in soluble proteins from the cortex of the normal and congenitally blind mice. It is concluded from the results that the genetically determined exclusion of photic stimulation in these animals leads to marked structural and biochemical changes in the brain.