Extracellular fluid proteins of goldfish brain: studies of concentration and labeling patterns.

An extraction procedure for the isolation of proteins from the extracellular fluid (ECF) of goldfish brain was developed and applied in an investigation of the time course and pattern of labeling of ECF proteins. The results indicate that two out of the many protein bands present, which migrated at 32,000 and 26,000 daltons on SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoretic gels, could incorporate as much as 50% of the label of the ECF fraction, even though their concentration was only 14%. Measurements of the protein content of the ECF and its volume (24% of the brain) by the inulin method were used to calculate the protein concentration in the extracellular space of goldfish brain. This gave a value of 1.6-2%, i.e., about 50% of the value obtained for the protein concentration of the cytoplasmic fraction devoid of particulate matter. Such a result suggests that the goldfish brain intracellular and extracellular fluids, separated by the neural membranes, contain relatively comparable levels of proteins.