L-DOPA decarboxylase association with membranes in mouse brain

Poulikos Poulikakos, Dido Vassilacopoulou, Emmanuel G. Fragoulis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

This work presents evidence on the association of active DDC molecules with membranes in mammalian brain. L-DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) is generally considered to be a cytosolic enzyme, Membrane-associated DDC was detected by immunoblotting and enzymatic assay experiments. DDC activity and immunoreactivity could be partially extracted from mammalian brain membranes by detergent. Fractionation of membranes by temperature-induced phase separation in Triton X-114, resulted in the recovery of membrane-associated DDC in separation phases where integral and hydrophobic membrane proteins separate. Treatment of membranes with phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C or proteinase K, did not elute membrane-associated DDC activity, suggesting that a population of DDC molecules exist embedded within membranes. The elucidation of the functional significance of the enzyme's association with membranes could provide us with new information leading to the better understanding of the biological pathways that DDC is involved in.

Original languageEnglish
Article number344504
Pages (from-to)479-485
Number of pages7
JournalNeurochemical Research
Volume26
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2001
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • L-DOPA decarboxylase
  • Membranes
  • Mouse brain
  • Phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C
  • Triton X-114

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