Abstract
We developed a novel polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) method to stack and separate human hemoglobins (Hbs) based on the concept of moving reaction boundary (MRB). This differs from the classic isotachophoresis (ITP)-based stacking PAGE in the aspect of buffer composition, including the electrode buffer (pH 8.62 Tris–Gly), sample buffer (pH 6.78 Tris–Gly), and separation buffer (pH 8.52 Tris–Gly). In the MRB-PAGE system, a transient MRB was formed between alkaline electrode buffer and acidic sample buffer, being designed to move toward the anode. Hbs carried partial positive charges in the sample buffer due to its pH below pI values of Hbs, resulting in electromigrating to the cathode. Hbs would carry negative charges quickly when migrated into the alkaline electrode buffer and be transported to the anode until meeting the sample buffer again. Thus, Hbs were stacked within a MRB until the transient MRB reached the separation buffer and then separated by zone electrophoresis with molecular sieve effect of the gel. The experimental results demonstrated that there were three clear and sharp protein zones of Hbs (HbA1c, HbA0, and HbA2) in MRB-PAGE, in contrast to only one protein zone (HbA0) in ITP-PAGE for large-volume loading (≥15 μl), indicating high stacking efficiency, separation resolution, and good sensitivity of MRB-PAGE. In addition, MRB-PAGE was performed in a conventional slab PAGE device, requiring no special device. Thus, it could be widely used in separation and analysis of diluted protein in a standard laboratory.
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Abbreviations
- 2-DE:
-
Two-dimensional electrophoresis
- CHCA:
-
α-Cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid
- Hbs:
-
Hemoglobins
- IEF:
-
Isoelectric focusing
- MALDI-TOF MS:
-
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–time-of-flight mass spectrometry
- MRB:
-
Moving reaction boundary
- PAGE:
-
Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
- TEMED:
-
N, N, N′, N-Tetramethylethylenediamine
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Acknowledgments
The project was supplied by the NSFC (no. 21035004, 21275099), National Key Development of Scientific Instrument (no. 2011YQ030139), Key Scientific Project of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (no. YG2010ZD209), and the Instrumental Analysis Center of SJTU and the University.
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The authors have declared no conflict of interest.
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Yun-Yun Tang, Hou-Yu Wang contributed equally to this work.
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Tang, YY., Wang, HY., Chen, L. et al. Novel moving reaction boundary-induced stacking and separation of human hemoglobins in slab polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Anal Bioanal Chem 405, 8587–8595 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-013-7258-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-013-7258-6