Compartmentation of hepatic fatty-acid-binding protein in liver cells and its effect on microsomal phosphatidic acid biosynthesis.

Fatty-acid-binding proteins are known to occur in the cytosol of mammalian cells and to bind fatty acids and their CoA-esters. Application of the postembedding protein A-gold labeling method with antibody against the hepatic type fatty-acid-binding protein (hFABP) to cross-sections of liver cells and a newly developed gel-chromatographic immunofluorescence assay established qualitatively (1) that hFABP in mitochondria was confined to outer mitochondrial membranes, (2) the presence of this protein in microsomes and (3) that nuclei were also filled with hFABP. Quantitative data elaborated with a non-competitive ELISA confirmed these results.