Affi-gel blue treatment simplifies the protein composition of sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles.

Sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles isolated by conventional techniques usually contain, in addition to the recognized sarcoplasmic reticulum components, several other proteins (phosphorylase, myosin, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, etc.) in variable amounts; these proteins complicate the interpretation of chemical modification data. Incubation of sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles with Affi-Gel blue particles for 1-4 h at 2 degrees C, followed by sedimentation of the Affi-Gel in a clinical centrifuge, simplifies the protein composition by selective adsorption of the accessory proteins, and improves the consistency of the preparations. The Affi-Gel blue treatment is recommended as part of the standard procedure for the isolation of sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles.