Lipid raft localization of GABAA receptor and Na+, K+-ATPase in discrete microdomain clusters in rat cerebellar granule cells

The microdomain localization of the GABAA receptor in rat cerebellar granule cells was studied by subcellular fractionation and fluorescence- and immunogold electron microscopy. The receptor resided in lipid rafts, prepared at 37 °C by extraction with the nonionic detergent Brij 98, but the raft fraction, defined by the marker ganglioside GM1 in the floating fractions following density gradient centrifugation, was heterogeneous in density and protein composition. Thus, another major raft-associated membrane protein, the Na+, K+-ATPase, was found in discrete rafts of lower density, reflecting clustering of the two proteins in separate membrane microdomains. Both proteins were observed in patchy 'hot spots' at the cell surface as well as in isolated lipid rafts. Their insolubility in Brij 98 was only marginally affected by methyl-β-cyclodextrin. In contrast, both the GABAA receptor and Na+, K+-ATPase were largely soluble in ice cold Triton X-100. This indicates that Brij 98 extraction defines an unusual type of cholesterol-independent lipid rafts that harbour membrane proteins also associated with underlying scaffolding/cytoskeletal proteins such as gephyrin (GABAA receptor) and ankyrin G (Na+, K+-ATPase). By providing an ordered membrane microenvironment, lipid rafts may contribute to the clustering of the GABAA receptor and the Na+, K+-ATPase at distinct functional locations on the cell surface.