Purification and characterization of rat hippocampal CA3-dendritic spines associated with mossy fiber terminals

We report a revised and improved isolation procedure for CA3-dendritic spin es, most of them still in association with mossy fiber terminals resulting in a 7.5-fold enrichment over nuclei and a 29-fold enrichment over myelin. Additionally, red blood cells, medullated fibers, mitochondria and small sy naptosomes were significantly depleted. We show bg high resolution electron microscopy that this subcellular fraction contains numerous dendritic spin es with a rich ultrastructure, e.g. an intact spine apparatus, membranous o rganelles, free and membrane-bound polyribosomes, endocytic structures and mitochondria. This improved experimental system will allow us to study aspe cts of post-synaptic functions at the biochemical and molecular level, (C) 1999 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.