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Design types and performances of preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis apparatus
Author(s) -
Akaiwa Shigeo
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.1150030605
Subject(s) - joule heating , dilution , resolution (logic) , elution , chromatography , joule (programming language) , tapering , sample (material) , electrophoresis , analytical chemistry (journal) , operability , biological system , chemistry , materials science , computer science , mathematics , physics , artificial intelligence , composite material , statistics , biology , computer graphics (images) , energy (signal processing) , thermodynamics , software engineering
The designs of both gel and elution chambers in preparative electrophoresis apparatuses are key elements for their performance. The present paper describes four types of designs which were developed by the author to alleviate the shortcomings found in the preceding designs. Performance tests, using human hemoglobin (Hb), partially purified haptoglobin 2‐1 type (Hp 2‐1), and bis‐albumin‐containing serum, show that insufficient dissipation of Joule heat and a heterogeneous electric field cause curvature and slant of the sample zones, and that only a chamber of optimal shape and size leads to minimal dilution, giving a good resolution. Moreover, notch, angle, and rim (Fig. 5), designed to support the gel, and tapering of the elution chamber to minimize its volume, are also important ministructures for the performance of the instrument. Unoptimal sets of these structures also cause concave sample bands and result in bad resolution and excessive dilution. These findings emphasize that in scaling up the apparatus, the structure must be designed on the basis of the detailed fundamental experiments from macrostructure to microstructure by using models of actual size.