ABSTRACT
Fractions enriched in a certain type of membrane or intracellular organelle may then be solubilized in a detergent and a membrane protein purified in the presence of detergent by appropriate chromatographic methods. Intracellular organelles and membrane vesicles are separated by centrifugation. Centrifugation is usually carried out in swing-out rotors for a number of hours or overnight. The ability to prepare synaptosomes from brain and other neural tissue has been a major impetus to the understanding of the biochemical reactions which contribute to synaptic transmission between neurons. Synaptosomes are sealed presynaptic nerve terminals which have been pinched off during homogenization of nervous tissue, sometimes with the postsynaptic membrane or even a complete dendritic spine attached. V. P. Whittaker provides a description of the development and comparison of methods for the preparation of synaptosomes and of their use as a model for the synapse.
