Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis of Spinal-Fluid Proteins

Twenty-three control samples of CSF were analyzed by vertical column electrophoresis on acrylamide gel. Quantitation results using a microdensitometer are presented. The normal protein pattern shows 15 constant bands which coincide in mobility and in many cases in staining pattern with serum proteins. The haptoglobin peaks, except for the band of the 1-1 type and the leading band of the 2-1 type were not seen in control fluids. ACRYLAMIDE GEL column electnophoresis (disc gel electrophoresis), in-troduced in 1959 by Ornstein and Davis (3, 4, 9) and by Raymond and Weintraub, (13, 14) provides a high-resolution technic for electro-phonetic separations of the protein components of various biological fluids. The facility of this method for use with small volumes of dilute protein solution makes it ideal for electrophoresis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Tn 1964, Cunningham published five examples of electrophoretic sep-aration of (4SF proteins by disc gel electrophoresis (2). These deter-mmations distinguished as many as 22 bands. Monseu and Cumings (8) applied the column technic in a qualitative and semi-quantitative anal-ysis of 59 (‘SF samples (including 30 controls), finding about 15 con-sistent bands. The present study was designed to explore the possibility of using disc gel electrophoresis as a diagnostic aid in the laboratory. A micro-densitometer for use with disc electrophoresis is commercially avail