[Degradation of polysomes of skeletal muscles of rats during preservation in solutions with different pH].

Alterations in properties of RNP-particles from rat sceletal muscles on storage of the preparations in buffer solutions at various pH were analyzed by means of centrifugation in sucrose gradients. Within 3 days of incubation at 20 the distribution of RNP-particles in the sucrose gradient was changed relatively slightly; which was due to the low activity of endogenous ribosomal RNAase. The fraction of the UV-absorbing material in polysomes was gradually decreased on storage and the fraction of subunits was increased respectively. The most distinct alterations were observed on incubation of the preparations at pH 6.0; the RNP-particles were apparently destructed after acidification of the medium.