Surfactants in membrane solubilisation

An understanding of the action of many drugs requires a knowledge of how th e drug reaches the site of action in a cell. A detailed knowledge of the st ructure and function of cell membranes is often required to understand the transport of drugs across the plasma membrane To obtain this information pr oteins must be isolated. The isolation and characterisation of cell membran e proteins usually requires the solubilisation of the membrane and a method of separation of the various membrane proteins and glycoproteins. The star ting point for such an investigation is the choice of a suitable surfactant (detergent) to solubilise the membrane. This review considers the range of surfactants that are available for membrane solubilisation, how surfactant s interact with membranes, the part they play in the separation of integral membrane proteins and in the reconstitution of membrane proteins for funct ional studies. The solubilisation of specific membrane proteins and glycopr oteins including the human erythrocyte anion transporter, mitochondrial por in, sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase, the ATPase-active multidrug transpo rter P-glycoprotein, bacteriorhodopsin and rhodopsin are also discussed. (C ) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.