High-sensitivity electrophoresis

Rech, I., Cova, S., Restelli, A., Ghioni, M., Chiari, M., and Cretich, M., Microchips and single-photon avalanche diodes for DNA separation with high sensitivity. Electrophoresis, 27, 3797-3804, 2006. 

Dittman, M. M. and Rozing, G. R, High-sensitivity separations of sodium dodecyl sulfate-protein complexes with capillary gel electrophoresis, LC-GC, 17(2), 132, 1999. 

Figeys, D. Aebersold, R. High sensitivity identification of proteins by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry inital comparison between an ion trap mass spectrometer and a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Electrophoresis 1997,18, 360-368. 

Michels, D.A., Hu, S., Schoenherr, R.M., Eggertson, M.J., Dovichi, NJ. (2002). Fully automated two-dimensional capillary electrophoresis for high sensitivity protein analysis. Mol. Cell. Proteomics 1, 69-74. 

Wu S, Dovichi NJ (1989) High-sensitivity fluorescence detector for fluorescein isothiocyanate derivatives of amino acids separated by capillary zone electrophoresis. J Chromatogr 480 141-155... 

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) ESI Separation of a wide variety of polar and charged species at high sensitivity Relatively high chemical background Proper safety interlocks... 

If the purpose of gel electrophoresis is to identify low-abundance proteins (e.g., low-copy-number proteins in a cell extract or contaminants in a purification scheme), then a high protein load (0.1 to 1 mg/ml) and a high-sensitivity stain such as silver or fluorescence should be used. When the intention is to obtain enough protein for use as an antigen or for sequence analysis, then a high protein load should be applied to the gel and the proteins visualized with a staining procedure that does not fix the proteins in the gel, e.g., colloidal CBB G-250 (Subsection 8.2.8.1). Furthermore, for purposes of quantitative comparisons, stains with broad linear ranges of detection response should be used. 

Fused silica capillaries are almost universally used in capillary electrophoresis. The inner diameter of fused silica capillaries varies from 20 to 200 pm, and the outer diameter varies from 150 to 360 pm. Selection of the capillary inner diameter is a compromise between resolution, sensitivity, and capacity. Best resolution is achieved by reducing the capillary diameter to maximize heat dissipation. Best sensitivity and sample load capacity are achieved with large internal diameters. A capillary internal diameter of 50 pm is optimal for most applications, but diameters of 75 to 100 pm may be needed for high sensitivity or for micropreparative applications. However, capillary diameters above 75 pm exhibit poor heat dissipation and may require use of low-conductivity buffers and low field strengths to avoid excessive Joule heating. 

Although this section provides a brief description of most commonly nsed detectors for HPLC, most of the focus is on a few detection modes. Optical absorbance detectors remain the most widely nsed for HPLC, and are discnssed in some detail. We also focns on flnorescence, condnctivity, and electrochemical detection, as these methods were not widely nsed for HPLC in the past, bnt are especially well suited to micro- and nano-flow instrnments becanse of their high sensitivity in small sample volumes. Mass spectrometry has also come into wide and rontine nse in the last decade, but as it is the subject of another chapter, it will not be fnrther discnssed here. Miniaturization has been particularly important for capillary and chip-based electrophoresis, which often employs sub-nanoliter detection volnmes [36,37]. 

Electrospray (ESI) is an atmospheric pressure ionization source in which the sample is ionized at an ambient pressure and then transferred into the MS. It was first developed by John Fenn in the late 1980s [1] and rapidly became one of the most widely used ionization techniques in mass spectrometry due to its high sensitivity and versatility. It is a soft ionization technique for analytes present in solution therefore, it can easily be coupled with separation methods such as LC and capillary electrophoresis (CE). The development of ESI has a wide field of applications, from small polar molecules to high molecular weight compounds such as protein and nucleotides. In 2002, the Nobel Prize was awarded to John Fenn following his studies on electrospray, for the development of soft desorption ionization methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules. ... 

Kondo T, Hirohashi S. (2006) Application of highly sensitive fluorescent dyes (CyDye DICE Fluor saturation dyes) to laser micro-dissection and two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DICE) for cancer proteomics. NatProtoc 1,2940-56. 

Because of the small amounts of sample that are usually obtained, coupled GC-MS is the method of choice for analysis of volatile pheromones. The analysis of the less-volatile lipids and polar pheromone components may require derivatization and microchemical tests, both to improve chromatographic characteristics and to provide information about the structures. It is likely that chromatographic techniques with high separation power and high sensitivity for polar compounds, such as coupled capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry, will prove useful for analysis of spider extracts in future studies. 

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