Orthogonal arrays of particles in plasma membranes of the gastric parietal cell.

Freeze-fracture of rat gastric mucosa revealed a specific set of intramembranous particles in the plasma membrane of the parietal cells. The particles were small and of square shape and formed orthogonal arrays in the P-face with corresponding orthogonal arrays of pits in the E-face. Arrays, scattered among usual globular particles, were particularly numerous at the basal pole of the cell and less concentrated on the lateral side. They were not present in the apical microvillar membrane nor in the membranes of intracellular tubulovesicles. As in other cell types in which similar arrays were described previously (e.g., astrocytes, "light" cells of the kidney collecting tubule), their presence in parietal cell membranes suggest some specialized function of these membranes not shared by plasma membranes showing only a population of globular particles. This function has yet to be identified.