The study of biogenetic pathways using a perfusion technique containing perfluorochemicals.

A liver perfusion system was assembled and adapted for pulse labelling studies. The perfusion medium was prepared by emulsifying perfluorotributylamine and Pluronic F 68 in a CO2 atmosphere using a sonicator. Ribosome-rich and ribosome-poor rough microsomes, smooth microsomes and Golgi membranes could be prepared from perfused livers with a good purity and recovery as from non-perfused livers. The subfractionation technique used was simple and involved slight modifications of the methods described earlier by Eriksson (1973) and Ehrenreich et al. (1973). The specific activity of NADPH-cytochrome c reductase in microsomes and of UDP-galactosyltransferase in Golgi membranes from perfused and non-perfused livers were identical. The specific activity of glucose-6-phosphatase in microsomes was slightly decreased after perfusion, but the membrane permeability barrier to glucose-6-phosphate remained intact. The granulated microsomal fractions from perfused liver had a somewhat reduced number of membrane-bound ribosomes. The system developed proved useful in studies of the synthesis and intracellular transport of albumin. The technique should also be suitable for use in studies of membrane biogenesis.