Correlation between the injection of specific proteins in starfishes and the appearance of binding sites for the same proteins in cell populations of their axial organ

The SBA-agglutinable subpopulation from injected animals showed a significantly higher number of membrane fluorescent cells than the nonagglUTinablesubpopulation from untreated animals, and the membrane fluorescence appeared mainly when the protein of the fluorescent conjugate was the same as that used for injecting the animal.

Abstract

Sea stars were injected with two different proteins (bovine serum albumin and whale myoglobin). Cell suspensions were prepared from the axial organ of injected and untreated animals. After exposure of these suspensions to soybean agglutinin (SBA), agglutinable and nonagglutinable cell subpopulations were obtained and compared as to their binding to fluorescent conjugates of the same proteins: FITC-serum albumin and FITC-myoglobin. The SBA-agglutinable subpopulation from injected animals showed a significantly higher number of membrane fluorescent cells than the nonagglutinable subpopulation. No significant membrane fluorescence was observed in the cell subpopulations obtained from untreated animals. The membrane fluorescence appeared mainly when the protein of the fluorescent conjugate was the same as that used for injecting the animal.