ATV03

The high-salt/hypotonic fractionation method for nuclear protein extraction is based on the differential solubility of cellular components. Cytoplasmic proteins are extracted first using a hypotonic buffer that causes cell swelling and membrane rupture, followed by centrifugation to separate the cytoplasmic supernatant from the nuclear pellet. The nuclear pellet is then subjected to high-salt extraction (e. g. , 0. 4 M (NH4)2SO4 or 1 M NaCl) to solubilize tightly bound nuclear matrix proteins, including transcription factors, histones, and structural proteins associated with chromatin and the nuclear scaffold. This approach allows for the isolation of both soluble cytoplasmic proteins and salt-resistant nuclear proteins while minimizing cross-contamination.

Cytoplasmic-nuclear fractionated protein extraction separates soluble cytoplasmic proteins from nuclear-enriched proteins by mild plasma-membrane permeabilization, differential centrifugation, washing of nuclei, and extraction of nuclear proteins for downstream immunoblotting or related molecular analysis. The readout is the relative abundance of a protein in cytoplasmic and nuclear fractions, commonly assessed by western blotting together with compartment markers such as tubulin or pyruvate kinase for cytoplasm and lamin, nucleoporin, hnRNP, H2AX, or Lamin B for nuclear fractions.