Isolation of brush border membrane vesicles from whole insect larvae

A method for isolating brush border membranes from insect larvae comprising:

• (a) blending whole insect larvae in a buffer solution which does not have metal binding characteristics;
• (b) removing the insect larvae exoskeleton from the blended solution;
• (c) homogenizing the blended solution containing the whole insect larvae without the exoskeleton to form a homogenate;
• (d) mixing the homogenate with a metal salt to form a mixture and incubating for a sufficient amount of time to precipitate the brush border membranes;
• (e) centrifuging the mixture a speed between about 2,000 and about 3,000.times.g to form a supernatant containing said brush border membranes;
• and
• (f) centrifuging the supernatant containing said brush border membranes at least 30,000.times.g to form a pellet of said brush border membranes.