Apparatus for rod-gel electrophoresis under high hydrostatic pressures

Apparatus for rod-gel electrophoresis under high hydrostatic pressures 

Electrophoresis under high hydrostatic pressures requires the implementation of special devices, and numerous technical problems have to be resolved. 

1 High-pressure vessels and high-pressure equipment 

Electrophoresis can be carried out in different types of electrophoresis cells. For geometric reasons, these cells have to be miniaturized and they must be cylindrical. They consist of two concentric chambers. An outer glass or plastic centrifuge tube forms the anodal buffer chamber (cf. Fig. 8.2(a)). The volume of the buffer chambers must be large enough to minimize the increasing cell resistance. 

Capillary tubes are filled to a height 60-80 mm by the capillarity of the acrylamide-gel-forming solution. The surface of the gel solution is carefully overlayed with water-saturated n-butanol by means of a 25 xL Hamilton microlitre syringe. Polymerization is achieved at room temperature in less than 60 min. A 10 mm high stacking gel can be added. The gel surface is then rinsed with the running buffer. 

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