dimensional Slab Gel Electrophoresis: Evidence for Intra- and Interindividual Variability of the Microheterogeneity Pattern in Health and Disease

This double one-dimensional slab gel electrophoresis technique,in the sequence polyacrylamide gel electro-phoresis followed by isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gels, permits the selective demonstration and comparison of the micro-heterogeneity pattern of a1-acid glycoprotein (orosomucoid) in as many as 96 human plasma or serum samples on one gel. The electrophoretic analysis is per-formed on 8 iL of serum or plasma without prior purifi-cation. Several hundred samples can be analyzed by one investigator during a working day. Densitometric evaluation of the patterns revealed two new findings: 1) The micro-heterogeneity pattern can be described by a parameter that is independent of the concentration of orosomucoid in plasma: the center of density of the pattern, with the peak number as coordinate. 2) There is a considerable averag