Restoration of gap junction-like structure after detergent solubilization of the proteins from liver gap junctions

Gap junctions isolated from rat liver were partially solubilized with a mixture of digitonin and octyl glucoside. After supplementation with lecithin and cholesterol, the octyl glucoside was removed from the soluble fraction by dialysis. The membranes of the reconstituted vesicles, observed in freeze-fracture, contained particles ranging from 7 to 12 nm diameter, more or less aggregated depending on the protein-to-lipid ratio. At every protein concentration, the arrangement of particles in contact areas between adjacent membranes closely resembles the organization of intact gap junctions. We conclude that the mixture of digitonin and octyl glucoside is able to solubilize the proteins of the liver gap junctions while preserving their property of restoring a gap junction-like structure.