Digitonin Explained
Digitonin is a steroidal saponin (saraponin) obtained from the foxglove plant Digitalis purpurea. Its aglycone is digitogenin, a spirostan steroid. It has been investigated as a detergent, as it effectively water-solubilizes lipids. As such, it has several potential membrane-related applications in biochemistry, including solubilizing membrane proteins, precipitating cholesterol, and permeabilizing cell membranes.[1] [2]
Digitonin is sometimes confused with the cardiac drugs digoxin and digitoxin; all three can be extracted from the same source.
Commercial digitonin preparations can often contain other congeners including tigonin, gitonin, digalonin, and desglucodigitonin.[3]
Chemical properties
Notes and References
- Geelen. Math J.H.. The use of digitonin-permeabilized mammalian cells for measuring enzyme activities in the course of studies on lipid metabolism. Analytical Biochemistry. December 2005. 347. 1. 1–9. 10.1016/j.ab.2005.03.032. 16291302.
- Fiskum. Gary. Intracellular levels and distribution of Ca2+ in digitonin-permeabilized cells. Cell Calcium. April 1985. 6. 1–2. 25–37. 10.1016/0143-4160(85)90032-6. 4016893.
- Yang. Y. M.. Lloyd. H. A.. Pannell. L. K.. Fales. H. M.. Macfarlane. R. D.. McNeal. C. J.. Ito. Y.. Separation of the components of commercial digitonin using high-performance liquid chromatography and centrifugal countercurrent chromatography. Identification of the products by californium-252 plasma desorption mass spectrometry. Biological Mass Spectrometry. 1986 . 13. 8. 439–445. 10.1002/bms.1200130810. 2944559. subscription.
