Capillary electrophoresis monitors changes in the electrophoretic behavior of mitochondrial preparations

• Published in: Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences, 2004-07, Vol.806 (2), p.151-159
• Main Authors: Fuller, Kathryn M, Arriaga, Edgar A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Electrophoresis, Capillary - methods; Electrophoretic mobility; Fluorescence; Freezing; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General pharmacology; Medical sciences; Mice; Mitochondria, Liver - physiology; Mitochondrial preparations; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Rats
• ISSN: 1570-0232; 1873-376X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2004.03.050

The presence of electrical charges on the surface of an organelle is the source of the organelle’s electrophoretic mobility. Recently, we reported that capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF) can be used to determine the electrophoretic mobility of individual mitochondria. Here, we describe the use of CE-LIF to monitor changes in the electrophoretic mobility distributions of: (i) mitochondria isolated from cultured NS-1 mouse hybridoma cells disrupted by nitrogen cavitation or mechanical homogenization; (ii) mitochondria isolated from rat liver and purified by gradient centrifugation before and after being frozen in liquid nitrogen; and (iii) mitochondria chemically transformed into mitoplasts. These results indicate that the organelle electrophoretic mobility observed by researchers is affected by preparation procedures and that CE-LIF is a complementary technique for monitoring the quality of mitochondrial preparations.