Preparation and properties of thyroid cell membranes.

Calf and human thyroids have been disrupted by nitrogen microcavitation, and the thyroid membranes prepared by repeated centrifugation in low ionic strength buffers. Two classes of membranes were prepared by centrifugation on a discontinuous gradient of ficoll. A lighter fraction was comprised of somewhat larger vesicles; they were higher in Na(+)-K(+)-activated ATPase, phosphodiesterase, and 5'-nucleotidase than was the heavier fraction. The heavier fraction had a higher nicotinamide adenine nucleotide dehydrogenase-diaphorase activity. Thus the lighter fraction appears to have been enriched in fragments derived from the plasma membrane.