A comparison of brush-border membranes prepared from rabbit small intestine by procedures involving Ca2+ and Mg2+ precipitation.

Brush-border membranes were isolated from rabbit small intestine by procedures involving precipitation of undesired membranes with either 10 mM MgCl2 or 10 mM CaCl2. The membranes were compared on the basis of marker enzyme content and lipid composition. Ca2+-prepared membranes displayed a greater enrichment of alkaline phosphatase and sucrase activity compared to homogenate than did the Mg2+-prepared membranes. The former also displayed an impoverishment of (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activity, the specific activity of which increased several-fold in Mg2+-prepared membranes. Membranes prepared with Ca2+ were characterized by a lower phosphoacylglycerol-protein ratio and a higher phosphatidylethanolamine-phosphatidylcholine ratio. Although lysophosphoacylglycerols accounted for about 6% of the total phospholipids in these membranes compared to 2% in Mg2+-prepared membranes, the free fatty acid content was similar in both types of membranes. It was concluded that Ca2+ prepared membranes were less contaminated by basolateral membranes than were Mg2+-prepared membranes and the use of Ca2+ did not notably enhance degradation of endogenous lipids by brush-border membrane phospholipase A.