Rapid capillary electrophoretic analysis of human serum proteins: qualitative comparison with high-throughput agarose gel electrophoresis

• Published in: Journal of Chromatography A 1996-09, Vol.744 (1), p.205-213
• Main Authors: Clark, R., Katzmann, J.A., Wiegert, E., Namyst-Goldberg, C., Sanders, L., Oda, R.P., Kyle, R.A., Landers, J.P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Blood Protein Electrophoresis - methods; Blood Proteins - analysis; Chemistry, Clinical - economics; Chemistry, Clinical - methods; Electrophoresis, Agar Gel - methods; Electrophoresis, Capillary - economics; Electrophoresis, Capillary - methods; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Online Systems - instrumentation; Proteins; Reproducibility of Results; Sample Size; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0021-9673
• DOI: 10.1016/0021-9673(96)00190-2

This study details the qualitative results from a comparative evaluation of agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) and (CZE) as a screening procedure for monoclonal proteins in serum. Three hundred and five serum samples were analyzed by the two techniques; samples suspected of containing monoclonal proteins based on abnormalities observed with AGE or CZE were confirmed by immunoelectrophoresis and/or immunofixation. CZE separation conditions were simple (requiring only a bare silica capillary and 150 m M borate buffer, pH 10.0) and separation was complete in under 120 s. The results obtained by CZE were comparable or better than those obtained with AGE. Samples displaying “point-of-application” artifacts on AGE were not problematic by CZE analysis; an abnormal profile, due to the presence of a monoclonal protein, or a normal profile were clearly observable. The rapid analysis, excellent reproducibility, automation and relatively high throughout (≈90 samples per 8 h on a single instrument) sets the stage for CZE analysis of serum proteins to be used routinely in a clinical setting.