Serum protein values from healthy ewes and lambs of various ages determined by agarose gel electrophoresis

Abstract

In previous studies of sheep serum proteins, several different forms of electrophoretic support media and conditions have been employed. There has been a gradual progression from the Tiselius apparatus used by early workers, with its laborious and complex procedure, to the present-day rapid and simple techniques. Some present-day electrophoretic techniques employ commercially-prepared ready-to-use agarose gels and analysis is usually complete in less than one hour. No quantitative data on ovine serum proteins using any of these techniques have been published. In this communication, serum protein electrophoresis values are presented from healthy sheep of various ages, using commercially-prepared electrophoresis films with agarose gel as support medium. Rf values (relative mobilities), relative (%) and absolute (g/l) values for each serum protein fraction are given as mean ± SD (standard deviation). Total protein values were determined by a biurret technique and these were used to convert relative to absolute values.