Figure 5.

Individual plasma membrane caveolae are clustered into higher-order structures in adipocytes. (A) Plasma membrane sheets were prepared from differentiated 3T3L1 adipocytes, incubated with a monoclonal caveolin 1 antibody, and subjected to confocal fluorescent microscopy at low magnification (a) or at high magnification (b) as indicated by the inset bar. (B) Plasma membrane sheets were prepared, fixed, and incubated with a monoclonal caveolin 1 antibody and a 10-nm gold-conjugated rabbit anti–mouse antibody as described in Materials and methods. The samples where then sectioned and visualized at low magnification (a) or high magnification (b) as indicated by the inset bar. Arrowheads indicate caveolae clustered into ring-shaped structures and arrows indicate individual caveolae.