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Abstract
We have used the electrocyte of Torpedo electric organ as a model system for the study of AchR stabilization in the post-synaptic membrane. Attention was focused on membrane cytoskeleton interactions in particular on a peripheral protein of 43 KD that is believed to participate in AchR immobilization.
Using immunocytochemical methods, we have shown that the cortical skeleton in Torpedo electrocyte displays a local differentiation proper for each specialized domain of the plasma membrane. In the postsynaptic membrane, characterized by an accumulation and a geometrical organization of the receptors in the plane of the membrane, the 43 KD protein participates in a submembraneous coating or “postsynaptic densities” that strictly codistribute with the AchR. The 43 KD protein might also account for the anchoring of intermediate-sized filaments.
The organization of the postsynaptic domain appears readily different from that of the non-innervated one where the membrane folds are maintained by a cortical meshwork of cytoskeletal proteins such as ankyrin, spectrin and oligomeric actin.
In conclusion, the asymmetrical organization of the cortical skeleton in the electrocyte offers a unique opportunity for the study of the specific aspects of membrane-skeleton interactions that take place in the postsynaptic domain.