Isoelectric Focusing in Liquid and Gels as Applied to Clinical Chemistry

Abstract

The liquid-density gradient technique is used extensively in relation to purification procedures as well as in relation to the physicochemical studies of, for example,human enzymes and isoenzymes, serum proteins, lipoproteins and their apoproteins, α 1 -fetoproteins, blood clotting factors, and eye lens proteins. Isoelectric focusing in gels can be combined with immunochemical detection of separated protein antigens. Alternatively, immunoelectrophoresis can be carried out with sections cut from the electrofocusing gel column. The isoelectric focusing is used in the study of interacting protein systems. This has enabled a study of the kinetics of the dimer formation from hemoglobin solutions. The study has shown that the number of mixed hemoglobin tetramers exist in liganded and unliganded forms, with these investigations being carried out at a low temperature. The fractionation of immunoreactive human chorionic gonadotropin and luteinizing hormone is achieved by isoelectric focusing in the polyacrylamide gel.