Partial purification and properties of lysosomes from rabbit testes.

Rabbit testes lysosomes were prepared by differential centrifugation and density gradient centrifugation on Percoll. The particulate material sedimented at 1.054 g/cm3. The enrichment in the activities of lysosomal marker enzymes was 9-fold. The contamination by other subcellular organelles such as mitochondria, microsomes and the plasma membrane was limited to 0.1% or less. The marker enzymes of isolated lysosomes exhibited bound activity of 80%, thus indicating the integrity of granules. The testicular lysosomes also exhibited osmofragility characteristics.