Isolation of Membranes from Tissue Culture Cells

The isolation of membranes from cultured mammalian cells poses a number of problems. First and foremost is the problem of homogenization, which is particularly difficult with suspension culture cells, as opposed to those that grow as an adherent monolayer. The choice of subcellular fractionation procedure depends on the results of the homogenization. For a review of the problems associated with the isolation of plasma membranes from tissue culture cells, see Graham (1 ).