Differential intracellular compartmentalization of phosphotyrosine phosphatases in a glial cell line: TC-PTP versus PTP-1B.

Intracellular levels of protein-phosphotyrosine are regulated by the protein-tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) family. Cellular compartmentalization may play an important role in modulating the function of these enzymes. The recent demonstration that PTP-1B is localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (Frangioni et al: Cell 68:545, 1992) is consistent with this proposition. In this study we have examined the intracellular distribution of TC-PTP in a glial cell line (C6). Using indirect immunofluorescence we have shown that this enzyme is distributed differently from PTP-1B and is mainly concentrated in the perinuclear region of these cells.