ELECTROPHORESIS OF SOLUBLE PROTEINS EXTRACTED FROM CELL SUSPENSIONS OF NEONATAL RAT EPIDERMIS.

During keratinization basal cells differentiate sequentially into spinous, granular, and keratinized cells. One method nf studying keratinization involves separating the tissue into cell types of its component strata and examining them for differences in synthetic activity. Another approach involves analyzing the preparations in order to determine what proteins are present at each stage of differentiation. This study deals with polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoretic analysis of neutral salt soluble proteins obtained from the four cell populations. In the basal, spinous, and granular cell gels there are some 18 electrophoretic hands. Using the most prominent band as reference (R1 53-57). there are eight faster-moving and 10-slower-moving hands. in electrophoretograms of protein from the keratinized cells, on the other hand, only four prominent bands are present and of these two are new. The other hands are present as traces or are lacking. They apparently represent substances which diminish during differentiation or are precursor of new protein. The alteration in soluble protein content in the differentiated as opposed to the undifferentiated cell gels may be utilized to study sequential changes which occur during keratinization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]