spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online October 27, 2004
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/jcs.01485

Journal of Cell Science 117, 5633-5642 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Antonenkov, V. D.
Right arrow Articles by Hiltunen, J. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Antonenkov, V. D.
Right arrow Articles by Hiltunen, J. K.

Research Article

The rat liver peroxisomal membrane forms a permeability barrier for cofactors but not for small metabolites in vitro

Vasily D. Antonenkov1,*, Raija T. Sormunen2 and J. Kalervo Hiltunen1,*

1 Department of Biochemistry and Biocenter Oulu
2 Department of Pathology, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland

* Authors for correspondence (e-mail: vasily.antonenkov{at}oulu.fi; kalervo.hiltunen{at}oulu.fi)

Accepted 6 August 2004

The functional role of the peroxisomal membrane as a permeability barrier to metabolites has been a matter of controversy for more than four decades. The initial conception, claiming free permeability of the membrane to small solute molecules, has recently been challenged by several observations suggesting that the peroxisomal membrane forms a closed compartment. We have characterized in vitro the permeability of rat liver peroxisomal membrane. Our results indicate that the membrane allows free access into peroxisomes for small hydrophilic molecules, such as substrates for peroxisomal enzymes (glycolate, urate), but not to more bulky cofactors (NAD/H, NADP/H, CoA). Although access for cofactors is not prevented completely by the membrane, the membrane barrier severely restricts their rate of entry into peroxisomes. The data lead to conclusion that, in vivo, peroxisomes may possess their own pool of cofactors, while they share a common pool of small metabolites with the cytoplasm. The results also indicate that molecular size plays an important role in in vivo distinction between cofactors and metabolic intermediates.

Key words: Peroxisomes, Membrane permeability, Cofactors




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Biol. Chem.Home page
M. Islinger, G. H. Luers, K. W. Li, M. Loos, and A. Volkl
Rat Liver Peroxisomes after Fibrate Treatment: A SURVEY USING QUANTITATIVE MASS SPECTROMETRY
J. Biol. Chem., August 10, 2007; 282(32): 23055 - 23069.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2004