Studies on human porin. VIII. Expression of "Porin 31HL" channels in the plasmalemma of the acute-lymphoblastic-leukemia cell line KM3 as revealed by light- and electron-microscopy.

First electron microscopy data on the expression of the VDAC "Porin 31HL" in the plasmalemma of a eucaryotic cell are presented. In a light and electron microscopic study we demonstrate the expression of the porin channel in the outer cell membrane of the pre-B lymphocyte type acute-lymphoblastic-leukemia cell line KM3. Monoclonal mouse anti-"Porin 31HL" antibodies were applied in indirect immunofluorescence or immunogold labelling experiments. The results confirm our early topological data on the expression of porin channels in the cytoplasmic membrane of different human cell types as revealed on the light microscopy level. Interestingly, only a pre-embedding immunoreaction approach was successful for gold particle labelling of the plasmalemma. This again is in agreement with our recent data on the accessibility of the acetylated N-terminal part of "Porin 31HL" molecules on the outer cell surface.