Abstract
THE plasma membrane of the smooth muscle cell presents characteristic rows of micro-invaginations or caveolae arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cell1–4. Previous studies have demonstrated that the plasma membrane in the rows contains a much higher density of intramembranous particles than the intervening membrane zones2,4. The polyene antibiotic, filipin, by specifically interacting with cholesterol5–7, produces distinctive alterations in freeze-fractured membranes8–11, and the addition of filipin to aldehyde fixatives has been recently introduced as a cytochemical technique for the freeze-fracture localisation of cholesterol in cell membranes12,13. By applying this technique to smooth muscle cells, we have now obtained morphological evidence that the invaginated, particle-rich bands of the plasma membrane react with filipin to a far greater extent than does the non-invaginated membrane. The two membrane zones may thus differ in cholesterol content.
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MONTESANO, R. Inhomogeneous distribution of filipin–sterol complexes in smooth muscle cell plasma membrane. Nature 280, 328–329 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/280328a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/280328a0
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