Abstract
Obtaining vesicular fractions from cell lines or animal tissue is both time and technically intensive. The presence of plasma membrane and nuclear contaminants within a preparation is often dependent on the method of homogenization and is usually mitigated through the use of density gradients. We have developed a method that utilizes Balch homogenization and differential centrifugation to obtain two distinct vesicular fractions along with purified nuclear, cytoplasmic, and ghost fractions within a 3-h period of time without the use of density gradients. Importantly, these fractions maintain their biologic activity following isolation and may be used for both localization and biochemical analyses.