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. 2008 Aug 15;283(33):22473–22481. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M803722200

FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 2.

Cholesterol depletion does not significantly alter charge density, whereas cholesterol loading causes a decrease in charge density that does not return toward control values upon incubation in bathing media. A, the mean charge density in untreated cells (striped, membrane cholesterol 7.4 pmol/μg of protein; n = 39) was 16.1 fC/pF. Cells treated with MβCD (white, membrane cholesterol 2.8 pmol/μg of protein; n = 25) had a mean charge density of 17.3 fC/pF which was not significantly altered relative to untreated cells (p > 0.65). Cells treated with MβCD and incubated in bathing media (light gray, n = 24) had a mean charge density of 19.6 fC/pF which was not significantly altered relative to untreated (p > 0.21) or MβCD-treated cells (p > 0.48). B, the histogram represents the mean charge density for untreated cells (striped), cells loaded to a membrane cholesterol concentration of 23.5 pmol/μg protein (black, n = 19), and cells loaded to a membrane cholesterol concentration of 23.5 pmol/μg protein and incubated in bathing media (dark gray, n = 14). The mean charge density was significantly reduced in both cholesterol-loaded cells (6.8 fC/pF, p < 1 × 10–6) and cholesterol-loaded cells incubated in bathing media (6.8 fC/pF; *, p < 1 × 10–6), with no significant difference between the two (p > 0.92). Error bars in both graphs represent 2 S.E. in either direction relative to the mean.