Welcome to the MedLibrary.org Wikipedia Supplement on Protein electrophoresis -- Please Click to Return to Front Page

Schematic representation of a protein electrophoresis gel

In chemistry and medicine, protein electrophoresis (a.k.a. Immunoelectrophoresis ) is a method of analysing a mixture of proteins by means of gel electrophoresis, mainly in blood serum (blood plasma is not suitable). Before the widespread use of electrophoresis gels, protein electrophoresis was performed on paper (sometimes in combination with paper chromotography).

Interpretation

There are two classes of blood proteins: serum albumin and globulin. They are generally equal in proportion, but albumin is much smaller and lightly negatively charged, leading to an accumulation of albumin on the electrophoretic gel. A small band before albumin represents transthyretin (also named prealbumin). Some forms of medication or body chemicals can cause their own band, usually small. Abnormal bands (spikes) are seen in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and multiple myeloma, and are useful in the diagnosis of these conditions.

The globulins are classified by their banding pattern (with their main representatives):

• The alpha (α) band consists of two parts, 1 and 2:
  • α₁ - α₁-antitrypsin, α₁-acid glycoprotein.
  • α₂ - haptoglobin, α₂-macroglobulin, α₂-antiplasmin, ceruloplasmin.
• The beta (β) band - transferrin, LDL, complement
• The gamma (γ) band - immunoglobulin (IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG and IgM). Paraproteins (in multiple myeloma) appear in this band.

See also

• Gel electrophoresis
• Paraprotein
• Electrofocusing
• QPNC-PAGE
• Immunofixation

External links

Discontinuous native protein gel electrophoresis

Protein purification facility

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 10 July 2008, at 05:33.

Wikipedia Authorship and Review

Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.

Wikipedia Usage Guidelines

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Protein electrophoresis".

The URL for this specific entry is:

• http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Protein_electrophoresis

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.