Variability of mammalian liver nuclear-envelope preparations

The composition, density and enzymic activities of sheep liver nuclear-envelope preparations were found to vary markedly according to the concentrations of nuclei during the lysis stage. The effect of nuclear concentration on the properties of the purified envelopes could not be attributed to bound Mg2+ or to other ions, and appeared to result from some component of the nucleus which was not eluted during lysis. The implications of these findings for studies on the nuclear envelope are discussed.